1 for Dokou Dodo, marked 7.65, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Dokou Dodo 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.
Ajax Cape Town asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ramahlwe Dala and Ajax Cape Town agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Bradley Zwane is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Polokwane City had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Ajax Cape Town did not stop to explain themselves.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erick Phiri. 2‑1 against Polokwane City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Oarabile Booysen 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Rivaldo Coetzee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hlompho Zungu and Ajax Cape Town agree another 3 years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ajax Cape Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Feb 2028
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ajax Cape Town can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ajax Cape Town pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ajax Cape Town have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Polokwane City were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Ajax Cape Town asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Itumeleng Mabunda is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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.
Erick Phiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 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.
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 Dean Dala is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ajax Cape Town. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ajax Cape Town is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.” Ramahlwe Dala and Ajax Cape Town agree another 4 years.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ajax Cape Town can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Erick Phiri is on it.
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Mário Junior a promise
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luther Mphela and Ajax Cape Town agree another 5 years.
Thokozani Khumalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 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.
5 goals in 9 games at Kaizer Chiefs — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ajax Cape Town updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
SquadMusa Drammeh has seen what the next man earns
The dugoutRamahlwe Dala asks for a word with the manager
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 Dean Dala is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ajax Cape Town. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.