John Paintsil opens up on juju allegations in Black Stars camp during 2012 AFCON

Former Black Stars defender John Paintsil has reacted to reports of voodooism in the camp of the Black Stars during the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

John Paintsil on GhanaWeb’s Sports Check program confirmed claims by Kwabena Yeboah that he had to intervene on the matter.

According to him, perceptions of juju had become ripe in the Stars camp with some players genuinely worried about the situation.

As a senior member of the team, Paintsil said he took steps to dissuade his colleagues on the perception of juju.

John Paintsil said that he spoke to the players and implored on them not to be sacred of the situation.

On if he believes in the juju phenomenon, the former Fulham right back dismissed the notions, stressing that juju does not exist in football.

He stated that it is important for players to focus on honing their craft instead of relying on some powers to improve their performance.

John Paintsil urged players not to leak information in team’s camp to people outside and rather focus on helping the team achieve it’s objective.

His comments was in relation to a revelation by Kwabena Yeboah that Paintsil scolded players during the AFCON in Equatorial Guinea.

“In Gabon-Equatorial Guinea certain things happened within the camp that horrified the then manager of the club Plavi, that is why in his confidential report, he said that the FA must take steps to disabuse the minds of the players against juju because everybody was talking about it,” Kwabena Yeboah said on GTV Sports Plus.

“I remember very well, John Paintsil happened to be the only one who rose up against his colleagues and wondered how anyone could believe in this rubbish, but it is something that is festering in the national team”.