Marked for Sifiso Zwane
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market16 Nov 2026
Sifiso Zwane hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gift Grobler 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sifiso Zwane 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.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Mandla Hlatshwayo 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Gift Grobler 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Gift Zwane was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.48. 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Nkosikhona Ndaba ran the middle of the pitch — 7.04
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.04, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mandla Hlatshwayo 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Keagan Furman
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Oct 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Keagan Furman damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Thato Sibiya: 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.” Black Aces have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sifiso Zwane 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sifiso Zwane. 2‑0 against Kaizer Chiefs, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.95 on the card, and the Black Aces support went home talking about one name.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mandla Hlatshwayo 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
The Gift Zwane story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gift Zwane signs something — a contract at Black Aces or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Keagan Furman damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Takalani Mazhamba is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Gift Grobler 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Keagan Furman damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Lebogang Mothiba takes the afternoon — 7.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lebogang Mothiba provided it, and the 7.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Gift Zwane, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gift Grobler 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lebogang Mothiba. 3‑2 against Jomo Cosmos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Keagan Furman damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Gift Grobler 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Keagan Furman
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Sep 2026
Sifiso Zwane hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gift Grobler 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keagan Tau 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
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Keagan Furman
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Sep 2026
Kaizer Chiefs are out and Black Aces go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match9 Sep 2026
Sifiso Zwane wins it after the whistle should have gone
106 minutes played. Sifiso Zwane found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Kaizer Chiefs went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Sifiso Zwane, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.53, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sifiso Zwane 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nkosikhona Ndaba 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Bradley Lorch 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Keagan Furman
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Black Aces
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Black Aces are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Sep 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 Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Sifiso Zwane 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Percy Furman
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Black Aces had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Keagan Furman damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
Andile Zwane hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Black Aces
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Black Aces are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Sifiso Zwane 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Keagan Tau 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Keagan Furman damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market24 Aug 2026
Keagan Furman hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Gift Grobler 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sifiso Zwane 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Mamelodi Sundowns left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market24 Aug 2026
The shop window has Sifiso Zwane in it
Black Aces have let the market know Sifiso Zwane can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Keagan Lorch
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The Gift Zwane story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gift Zwane signs something — a contract at Black Aces or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market24 Aug 2026
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Mpho Chabatsane arrives from Orlando Pirates with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Keagan Furman damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 99 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sifiso Zwane 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Gift Zwane 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Percy Furman
“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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2‑2 draw with SuperSport United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market17 Aug 2026
Black Aces have made Keagan Furman available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sifiso Zwane commits to Black Aces for another 4 years.
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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Black Aces
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sifiso Zwane 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Morgan Vilakazi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Morgan Mkhize has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Keagan Khune has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Los Angeles Football Club for Gift Zwane was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gift Grobler 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sifiso Zwane 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.