The mood at Polokwane City has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Polokwane City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ditebogo Sibanda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Polokwane City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Golden Arrows is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Polokwane City will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The name of Meshua Mello has come up in conversations Polokwane City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Polokwane City asked and Queens Park Rangers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 157 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polokwane City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 15 and 27 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Polokwane City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polokwane City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Monty Batlhabane 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Polokwane City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Ramabu 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Thabiso Msane
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polokwane City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Polokwane City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Monty Batlhabane 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.
Tlou Nkwe 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 Monty Batlhabane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Giovanni Philander 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.
Position 15, 12 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Polokwane City has been clear about where Meshua Mello stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Mamelodi Sundowns defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
1‑5 against Bloemfontein Celtic, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Polokwane City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Keorapetse Sebone has, at Polokwane City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Polokwane City and Bloemfontein Celtic, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
$33.0K was the most the club would pay and Black Aces were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Daniele, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Musa Drammeh 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kermit Kekana and Ajax Cape Town agree another 4 years.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ajax Cape Town has been clear about where Zolani Nkombelo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ajax Cape Town they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Erick Phiri 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Musa Drammeh 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.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dean Dala signs something — a contract at Ajax Cape Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutHlompho Zungu knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ENPPI waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ajax Cape Town is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phila Dlamini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Williams Erasmus is on it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luther Mphela did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
At 21 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luther Mphela. 2‑0 against University of Pretoria, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Musa Drammeh 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.
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 dugout28 Dec 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 Furman, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.