Rivaldo Dala

Central Defender - Free Agent
30 Jul 2028
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Marked for Rivaldo Dala

60 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad20 Sep 2027

A knee injury of the worst kind for Thulani Dala

38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Free State Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings20 Sep 2027

Mfundo Vilakazi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00

A mark of 8.00 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.

Player ratings20 Sep 2027

Up for the corner, and Siphelo Baloni delivers — 7.69

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Siphelo Baloni scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad20 Sep 2027

Real improvement from Simphiwe Mlondo at Free State Stars

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Simphiwe Mlondo is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad20 Sep 2027

Andile Jali 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 Free State Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces20 Sep 2027

Free State Stars supporters have found a favourite in Mfundo Vilakazi

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mfundo Vilakazi 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.

Squad20 Sep 2027

The manager makes an example of Siphelo Baloni

“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.

Match18 Sep 2027

Free State Stars share the spoils with Golden Arrows

A 2‑2 draw with Golden Arrows leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Market20 Sep 2027

The Thulani Dala story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thulani Dala signs something — a contract at Free State Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

Back issues
58 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad6 Sep 2027

Thulani Dala damages knee ligaments — 53 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.

Squad6 Sep 2027

Mfundo Vilakazi is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.

Squad6 Sep 2027

Andile Jali 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 Free State Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match4 Sep 2027

Platinum Stars take the points off Free State Stars

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad6 Sep 2027

Themba Hlatshwayo has improved at 27, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Player ratings6 Sep 2027

Mfundo Vilakazi's mistake decides it

Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Free State Stars needed to.

In brief

7 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match12 Sep 2026

Free State Stars bow out of the cup

Ajax Cape Town go through and Free State Stars go home, 0‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Evidence Modiba could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.52

Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.52, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.

Squad14 Sep 2026

Itumeleng Grobler keeps Free State Stars in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

The terraces14 Sep 2026

Free State Stars are taken apart by Ajax Cape Town — and the town wants answers

It finished 0-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.

Squad14 Sep 2026

Lebogang Dolly 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

The manager makes an example of Andile 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.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Both jobs done by Themba Tau — 6.98

A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.98, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.

Boardroom14 Sep 2026

Doors closed at Free State Stars

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

One moment undoes Thamsanqa Grobler

There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.

In brief