Erick Dala

Right Back - Black Aces
27 Sep 2026
Sunday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 22 Awards 1 Matches History

Marked for Erick Dala

6 Edition

The Black Aces Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market7 Sep 2026

Bongani Mokoena puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.

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.

Boardroom7 Sep 2026

Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Black Aces until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Squad7 Sep 2026

A falling-out at Black Aces

Ntsikelelo Nyauza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match5 Sep 2026

Themba Jali among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Themba Jali on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Black Aces and University of Pretoria.

Match5 Sep 2026

A bad afternoon for Black Aces against University of Pretoria

2‑4 to University of Pretoria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Erick Dala 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 dugout7 Sep 2026

No hiding place for Bongani Mokoena

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bongani Mokoena, and the manager let it.

Squad7 Sep 2026

A step back for Mandla Grobler at Black Aces

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The Black Aces Herald

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Age has not caught Ntsikelelo Nyauza yet — 7.85

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Ntsikelelo Nyauza 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.

Squad17 Aug 2026

A row about effort at Black Aces

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erick Dala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout17 Aug 2026

No hiding place for Erick Dala

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Dala, and the manager let it.

Match15 Aug 2026

Ntsikelelo Nyauza answers SuperSport United immediately

Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Ntsikelelo Nyauza had Black Aces level again within 2 minutes, and SuperSport United never got to play with a lead at all.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Percy Phiri signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Percy Phiri commits to Black Aces for another 3 years.

Match15 Aug 2026

Black Aces and SuperSport United take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout17 Aug 2026

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mandla Modiba was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Black Aces dressing room was either.

The dugout17 Aug 2026

Black Aces pick somebody else ahead of Luther Ngcobo

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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Black Aces Herald

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market3 Aug 2026

Themba Mahlangu asks to leave Black Aces

“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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Bongani Mokoena 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

Erick Dala 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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Mandla Erasmus stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Mandla Erasmus and Black Aces agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Black Aces try to borrow Zuko Mdunyelwa

Mamelodi Sundowns have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

A loan move for Samkelo Dlamuka is in the works

Black Aces have made the call to Golden Arrows. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout3 Aug 2026

Themba Jali asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Erick Dala has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Black Aces that is a harder question to answer.

Market3 Aug 2026

The clock runs on Mandla Erasmus's contract

12 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

In brief