“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Ronwen Lorch, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Teboho Mabunda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
At 19 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Black Aces were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Platinum Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Teboho Billiat, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Siyabonga Ngcobo left the room before anybody could ask which.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A brace, and Ronwen Lorch takes the afternoon — 8.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ronwen Lorch provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Lukhele has just signed for Platinum Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rivaldo Hlatshwayo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ronwen Lorch. 2‑1 against Bidvest Wits, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Ronwen Lorch 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.
“I watch every Platinum Stars game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at University of Pretoria runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Platinum Stars have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Platinum Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rivaldo Hlatshwayo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Molangoane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Jomo Cosmos will make the call about Themba Khune this week. Platinum Stars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Platinum Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ronwen Lorch did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The phone has started ringing about Andile Jali again, and this time the name on the line is Bidvest Wits. Platinum Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Platinum Stars have gone to Free State Stars with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Platinum Stars have done the hard part with Chippa United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Platinum Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from SuperSport United for Andile Jali 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.
Rivaldo Hlatshwayo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thamsanqa Dolly. 3‑1 against Bidvest Wits, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Chippa United will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Platinum Stars were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Rivaldo Hlatshwayo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ronwen Lorch and Platinum Stars agree another 4 years.
At 18 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 Dec 2026
Thamsanqa Dolly was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Platinum Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Siyabonga Ngcobo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 138 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Neo Bohloko 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Siyabonga Ngcobo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer from SuperSport United for Ronwen Lorch 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Platinum Stars have done the hard part with Kaizer Chiefs, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.