Terrence Mashego was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rivaldo Dala after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
Terrence Mashego and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lungelo Nguse and Maritzburg United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Half the programme played, position 4, 29 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Terrence Mashego was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Thulani Khune was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A 4‑3 win over Golden Arrows, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
7 goals in one match, Thulani Khune on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Maritzburg United and Golden Arrows.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Poggenpoel is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Golden Arrows in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thulani Khune signs something — a contract at Maritzburg United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terrence Mashego and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Maritzburg United, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Thulani Khune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Maritzburg United. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rivaldo Dala, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A point taken on 96 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rivaldo Dala after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Thulani Khune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Maritzburg United, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Thulani Khune was the best thing in any of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Fezile Gcaba’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Maritzburg United needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maritzburg United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Maritzburg United, another week without a signature from Xolani Ngcobo.
Lungelo Nguse was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Rivaldo Dala left the room before anybody could ask which.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jomo Cosmos in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Thulani Khune
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kyle Jurgens has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Poggenpoel is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rivaldo Dala, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Thulani Khune has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
A brace, and Thulani Khune takes the afternoon — 9.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thulani Khune provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Maritzburg United have done the hard part with University of Pretoria, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: River Plate keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maritzburg United asked and Temperley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lungelo Nguse has just signed for Maritzburg United, and for once the answer mattered.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Maritzburg United, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darren Keet and Maritzburg United agree another 2 years.
Terrence Mashego was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Maritzburg United asked and Nasarawa United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Bidvest Wits have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nhlonipho Mtshali. The answer from Maritzburg United has not changed — yet.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Maritzburg United, another week without a signature from Darren Keet.
Still no offer on the table, and Kyle Jurgens’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.