Marked for Kermit Erasmus
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Hlompho Mphela out for 78 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Black Aces will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match30 Jan 2027
Black Aces win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Kaizer Chiefs will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market1 Feb 2027
Khama 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Both of them Gift Zungu's — 8.37
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market1 Feb 2027
Alanyaspor come back empty-handed
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Kaizer Chiefs made Black Aces work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market1 Feb 2027
Free State Stars pay $38.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Free State Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.38 with 20 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nkosi Gumede 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.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Eva Bienvenu from Chippa United for $95.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 8.13 — 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramahlwe Phiri, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Hlompho Mphela out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Black Aces will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match23 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for Black Aces
A 0‑3 beating by Orlando Pirates was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Black Aces have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Sifiso Mahlangu
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match2 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Black Aces
Position 14 and 8 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Keagan Kekana, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Black Aces's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Black Aces has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gift Zungu 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Ronwen Vilakazi is 35, with 6 appearances behind him, and Black Aces will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Oct 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sifiso Furman is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match17 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Black Aces
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Morgan Mokotjo 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Kaizer Chiefs left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Sep 2026
“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.
Match26 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Morgan Ngcobo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Bloemfontein Celtic left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Keagan Kekana 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Sep 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.
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
Morgan Mokotjo 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sifiso Furman is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ajax Cape Town left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Gift Zungu
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Bongani Mkhize
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market21 Sep 2026
The name of Sifiso Mahlangu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Black Aces say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2026
Kaizer Chiefs ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ramahlwe Phiri could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.20
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.20, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer from Bloemfontein Celtic for Kermit Erasmus was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Maritzburg United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Keagan Kekana 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Black Aces have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Polokwane City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khama Dala 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Black Aces had the best player on the pitch.