Marked for Ronwen Furman
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Black Aces will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dean Mahlangu 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mandla Zwane gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denwin Farmer 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Dean Mahlangu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad28 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 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 Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Hlompho 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.22. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match19 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Maritzburg United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thulani Phiri has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bloemfontein Celtic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Sep 2026
The Mandla Zwane talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bloemfontein Celtic know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Fouls conceded: 8. He was booked, he was fortunate not to be booked twice, and the referee had run out of patience long before the end.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Sep 2026
A 3‑0 win over Chippa United, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Evidence Zwane, 33, rolls back the years — 8.08
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Hlompho Dolly 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siyabonga Dube 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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 23 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bloemfontein Celtic can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 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 Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 22 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.74 — 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Boikanyo Komane
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ronwen Furman named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ronwen Furman is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Dean Mahlangu reports back to Bloemfontein Celtic with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market31 Aug 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 Bloemfontein Celtic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hlompho Dolly 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.
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 Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Mamelodi Sundowns left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denwin Farmer, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Bloemfontein Celtic did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Bloemfontein Celtic have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad24 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 Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Siyabonga Dube 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.
Squad24 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Dean Mahlangu takes the afternoon — 9.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dean Mahlangu provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Asante Kotoko for Keagan Ngcobo 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dean Mahlangu 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Bloemfontein Celtic and Bidvest Wits in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 23 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Keagan Ngcobo at his very best
Marked 8.42. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Bloemfontein Celtic.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Golden Arrows, and it could have been more.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Besiktas for Dean Mahlangu 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.82, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ronwen Furman and Bloemfontein Celtic agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dean Mahlangu 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Bloemfontein Celtic
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mandla Zwane 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
Squad3 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 Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mandla Mokotjo 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
Ronwen Furman knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ronwen Furman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.