Rififi in Ivry. The players of the historic French handball club, relegated to the second division, are demanding the departure of their coach Didier Dinart, with contested methods and who continues work stoppages while alternately assuming his role as coach of Montenegro. Arriving at the team’s bedside in January 2023, Didier Dinart, 2017 world champion at the head of the France team, has not reappeared on his bench since the start of the season in July.
It was his assistant, Thibault Vaquerin, who took the reins of the team, assisted by the general manager responsible for performance, Pascal Léandri, former player and coach and emblematic figure of the club. Contacted by AFP, neither the club management nor Didier Dinart wished to comment on this situation.
The group of players is very angry with the coach, whose “brutality” and “toxic management” they unanimously condemn when he was in charge, reports a player. And the workforce is especially surprised to see Dinart leading Montenegro, of which he has also been the coach since November 2024, even though he is on sick leave when he has to coach the Ile-de-France club.
A strike carried out in October
Few understand and admit that a coach is unfit for his club and alternatively fit to exercise his function abroad, while being very visible on social networks. “We don’t want him to coach us anyway,” a player on the team told AFP.
Returning from an international window on October 20, Didier Dinart, who was no longer on sick leave at the time, showed up the next day, the 21st, at the Ivryens’ planned training session, but found no players present. “We went on strike,” continues the same player. It seems that it was the first in the club’s history, which is surprising for this popular club, attached to its communist municipality. »
The professional group asked to be received by its leaders, denouncing for an hour and a half the toxic management methods of their coach, methods described as “humiliating and harassing”.
Results of a pending investigation
Faced with the revolt of the players and to provide a response to their accusations against Dinart, François Lequeux, the president of the club, and his management team have launched an internal investigation, the results of which must be revealed in the coming days. But for the players, it was never envisaged to be managed again by the former coach of the Blues, already removed from the France team in 2020 and replaced by Guillaume Gille, his deputy at the time.
The Ivorian players all say with one voice their relief and the peaceful climate found since the start of the season in his absence. And it seems less and less likely to see the technician, aged 48, under contract until June 2026, reappear on the bench of the Rouge et Noir.
Without him, they are now in third place in the second division standings, with the ambition of moving up to the Starligue next season and the hope of returning at the right time to their historic Auguste Delaune hall, which burned down on February 24. While waiting for the end of the renovation work, scheduled for next spring, the Ivryens must take refuge in another gymnasium in the city for their training and request asylum from other clubs in Île-de-France for their home matches until the end of the season.
