Marked for Ronwen Vilakazi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Khama Erasmus
43 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.
Market23 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Erick Dala beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Black Aces do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mandla 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.
The dugout23 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dean Dala was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Black Aces dressing room was either.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Bongani Furman
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Black Aces lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Dean Furman beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Ronwen Vilakazi: 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rivaldo Mothiba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Rivaldo Mothiba at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Black Aces.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mandla Furman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Nov 2026
Halfway: Black Aces sit in position 12
11 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Bidvest Wits to sit and watch. I want to come back to Black Aces and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Match14 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
The drought breaks for Black Aces
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Platinum Stars were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.84 — 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Siyabonga Zungu at his very best
Marked 8.35. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Black Aces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mandla 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Erick Lorch 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Erick Dala beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout2 Nov 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.” Dean Dala, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout2 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Black Aces
9 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Erick Dala 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Thamsanqa Khune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mandla 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.51. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Half-satisfied: Dean Dala on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Chippa United will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Rivaldo Mothiba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Erick Dala 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ajax Cape Town left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mandla Furman 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“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 Black Aces, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Dean Dala to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Dean Furman beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match9 Sep 2026
The small margins put Black Aces out
Out, 0‑2 to Kaizer Chiefs, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match12 Sep 2026
Maritzburg United left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mandla Furman 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The formation has left Tloto Leepile behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Black Aces will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ittihad had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Black Aces did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rivaldo Khune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and Black Aces go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Erick Jali
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Hlompho Dala again, and this time the name on the line is El Dakhleya. Black Aces are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match15 Aug 2026
SuperSport United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Aug 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 0‑1 Dean Dala left the room before anybody could ask which.