Marked for Ramahlwe Grobler
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Siyabonga Modiba: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ajax Cape Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match3 Oct 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramahlwe Grobler 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Cohen Stander 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Keagan Mothiba
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ajax Cape Town and Golden Arrows in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ramahlwe Grobler falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.60, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ajax Cape Town
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Ramahlwe Grobler at 21 — 7.86
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ramahlwe Grobler did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Divine Lunga in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
2‑3 to Black Aces, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Divine Lunga gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Keagan Mothiba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thamsanqa Mphela falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Ajax Cape Town have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
Free State Stars are out and Ajax Cape Town go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market14 Sep 2026
Dynamo Kyiv come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ajax Cape Town did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Sifiso Mkhize, 34, rolls back the years — 8.52
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Divine Lunga 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ramahlwe Grobler falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Siyabonga Modiba at his very best
Marked 8.27. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ajax Cape Town.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riyaaz Koopstadt, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Keagan Tau, 33, rolls back the years — 8.92
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.92 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The Ajax Cape Town board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Sifiso Mkhize reports back to Ajax Cape Town with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Divine Lunga in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramahlwe Grobler 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cohen Stander, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Ajax Cape Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match29 Aug 2026
Platinum Stars left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thamsanqa Mphela 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ajax Cape Town
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market31 Aug 2026
Chippa United are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ajax Cape Town will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market24 Aug 2026
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Bradley Phiri at 20 — 8.01
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bradley Phiri did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match22 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ajax Cape Town have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Keagan Tau in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 9.76 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market24 Aug 2026
Enyimba are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ajax Cape Town will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town spend $960.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $960.0K for Divine Lunga, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramahlwe Grobler 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Themba Manyama at 19 — 8.21
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Themba Manyama did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market17 Aug 2026
KV Oostende come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ajax Cape Town did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ramahlwe Grobler falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Themba Manyama 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Chippa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Keagan Tau gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.47, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ajax Cape Town know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax Cape Town can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bongani Furman and Ajax Cape Town agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bongani Furman falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bongani Furman. 2‑1 against Polokwane City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Enyimba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ramahlwe Grobler. The answer from Ajax Cape Town has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Keagan Tau in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramahlwe Grobler 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.