116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SuperSport United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. SuperSport United have done the hard part with Envigado, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Rushwin Dortley 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. SuperSport United have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Gift Lorch 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutGift Lorch asks for a word with the manager
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SuperSport United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around SuperSport United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Rushwin Dortley 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 had been thinking. Gift Lorch 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo City have kept their man, and SuperSport United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SuperSport United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hlompho Mphela and SuperSport United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ronwen Phiri has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SuperSport United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Gift Lorch 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 name of Isheanesu Mauchi has come up in conversations SuperSport United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
In brief
The dugoutPercy Lorch has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Gift Lorch exposed
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SuperSport United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$65.0K was the most the club would pay and Bidvest Wits were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Lorch 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
$65.0K on the table at Bidvest Wits. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Lorch 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zorya have kept their man, and SuperSport United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Bidvest Wits have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Naphtali Mokoena. The answer from SuperSport United has not changed — yet.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at SuperSport United, another week without a signature from Hlompho Mphela.
SuperSport United have made the call to Rosario Central. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SuperSport United can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rushwin Dortley 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bradley Zwane has his answer from SuperSport United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siyabonga Williams 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. SuperSport United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. SuperSport United had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at SuperSport United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Rushwin Dortley 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 May 2029
Gift Lorch 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.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Percy Lorch signs something — a contract at SuperSport United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5, 54 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at SuperSport United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khama Furman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SuperSport United can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SuperSport United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Erick Zwane's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Gift Lorch 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mpho Padime is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. SuperSport United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutMpho Padime knocks on the manager’s door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SuperSport United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rushwin Dortley 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Itumeleng Kekana has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Evidence Mokoena has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Thamsanqa Dolly has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thamsanqa Dolly has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Gift Lorch 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SuperSport United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SuperSport United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Terrence Mashego and SuperSport United agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Gift Lorch 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Rushwin Dortley 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 Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gift Mothiba is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Percy Lorch signs something — a contract at SuperSport United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SuperSport United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. SuperSport United lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
54 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Position 5 on 54 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Gift Mothiba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ronwen Phiri, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
7 shut-outs in 25 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Naphtali Mokoena has been having a lot of them.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SuperSport United can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ronwen Lorch and SuperSport United agree another 4 years.
Gift Lorch 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.
Rushwin Dortley 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 Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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 1‑2 Ronwen Phiri left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Themba Zungu and SuperSport United agree another 3 years.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SuperSport United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at SuperSport United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lebogang Phiri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Siyabonga Williams has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Gift Lorch 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Iwueke Obiuto and SuperSport United agree another 2 years.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Gift Lorch will call it something else in private.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SuperSport United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ronwen Phiri has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Teboho Grobler to Chippa United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to SuperSport United with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Percy Lorch 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. SuperSport United will try again when the window opens; Maritzburg United may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Lorch 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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SuperSport United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SuperSport United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
$110.0K on the table at Bloemfontein Celtic. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
SuperSport United asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erick Mothiba. 2‑0 against Chippa United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
SquadGift Lorch falls out with a teammate over standards
Percy Lorch 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Gift Lorch 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Percy Lorch 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.
Add another name to the list: Chippa United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Teboho Grobler. The answer from SuperSport United has not changed — yet.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Riyaaz Ismail and SuperSport United agree another 2 years.
Hlompho Mphela wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Hlompho Mphela found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Bloemfontein Celtic went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Lorch 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ronwen Phiri could afford to be generous.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SuperSport United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Maritzburg United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Gift Lorch 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 easiest signature of my career.” Keagan Mkhize and SuperSport United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khama Furman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SuperSport United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luther Furman and SuperSport United agree another 3 years.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Percy Lorch is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SuperSport United has been clear about where Ramahlwe Mahlangu stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. SuperSport United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Hlompho Mphela has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
In brief
The dugoutKeagan Mkhize asks for a word with the manager
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SuperSport United can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Percy Lorch. 1‑0 against Ajax Cape Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gift Lorch is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SuperSport United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Lorch 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SuperSport United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Gift Lorch 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.
A 1‑0 win over Free State Stars, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.77 on the card, and the SuperSport United support went home talking about one name.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
Gift Mothiba is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 7.01 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ramahlwe Mokotjo and SuperSport United agree another 3 years.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Mpho Padime decided nobody was going anywhere. Platinum Stars had no time left to answer.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mpho Padime did not need any: 8.34, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SuperSport United can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Lorch 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Black Aces waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SuperSport United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SuperSport United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$150.0K on the table at Bloemfontein Celtic. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The offer from Auckland FC for Bradley Zwane 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.
“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 SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Naphtali Mokoena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SuperSport United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Erick Mothiba and SuperSport United agree another 4 years.
Percy Lorch 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Black Aces waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SuperSport United can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Jomo Cosmos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Khama Dala. The answer from SuperSport United has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ethen Sampson is on it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ronwen Phiri has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khama Furman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SuperSport United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Wandile Duba has his answer from SuperSport United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
30 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
5 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gift Lorch trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryn Deeley was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Isheanesu Mauchi has written the date down.
Gift Lorch 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 had been thinking. Kegan Johannes 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 dugout15 May 2028
Luvoyo Phewa is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Veli Mothwa and University of Pretoria agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Veli Mothwa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at University of Pretoria says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryn Deeley 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 easiest signature of my career.” Teboho Khune and SuperSport United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Iwueke Obiuto is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SuperSport United can pretend not to have heard.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bradley Zwane trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 goals in 30 games at University of Pretoria — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at SuperSport United updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Isheanesu Mauchi has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at SuperSport United the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Veli Mothwa 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Athini Jodwana and University of Pretoria agree another 1 years.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at University of Pretoria says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. University of Pretoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at University of Pretoria is running low.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at University of Pretoria can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kegan Johannes 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.
Teboho Tlolane 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gift Lorch has come out of that comparison in the side, and University of Pretoria have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Veli Mothwa was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“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 SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Bryn Deeley 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.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sifiso Ngcobo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at SuperSport United that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. University of Pretoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kegan Johannes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Veli Mothwa 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abel Mabaso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
0‑4 against Bidvest Wits, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at University of Pretoria has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kegan Johannes 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.
5 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. University of Pretoria lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at University of Pretoria is running low.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vusi Sibiya commits to University of Pretoria for another 3 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Veli Mothwa 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
1‑4 to Kaizer Chiefs, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
2 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Thabiso Mokoena reports back to University of Pretoria with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Kegan Johannes 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Luvoyo Phewa 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.
University of Pretoria asked and Honved said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” University of Pretoria may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around University of Pretoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gift Lorch 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kegan Johannes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Sofia have kept their man, and University of Pretoria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Jomo Cosmos were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” University of Pretoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Gift Lorch, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 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.
The deal with Orlando Pirates is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Veli Mothwa 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and University of Pretoria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 21 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.
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at University of Pretoria has to find a result from somewhere.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. University of Pretoria have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kegan Johannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and University of Pretoria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Rivaldo Mphela was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the University of Pretoria dressing room was either.
Position 15 and 14 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.
“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 University of Pretoria, 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.” University of Pretoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Veli Mothwa 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.
University of Pretoria asked and CSKA Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
In brief
SquadNeo Bohloko is the division's best young player this month
Kegan Johannes 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 shirt still fits. Thokozani Sekotlong is back at University of Pretoria, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Veli Mothwa 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Rivaldo Mphela to a room that had heard them before.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
A brace, and Neo Bohloko takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Neo Bohloko provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Gift Lorch 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between University of Pretoria and Polokwane City, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Neo Bohloko 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.
“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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Rivaldo Mphela to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kegan Johannes 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Gontse Molefe 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Bidvest Wits? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tumi Bowes's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” University of Pretoria may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Veli Mothwa 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Rushwin Dortley 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Bryn Deeley 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.
“I did not go to Willem II to sit and watch. I want to come back to SuperSport United and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Percy Lorch is on it.
Mamelodi Sundowns next, and one man in the SuperSport United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. SuperSport United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Gift Lorch 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Veli Mothwa 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. University of Pretoria told Vusi Sibiya something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Teboho Tlolane’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and University of Pretoria needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and University of Pretoria will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Next up on the road: Golden Arrows, position 13. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what University of Pretoria can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kegan Johannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gift Lorch has come out of that comparison in the side, and University of Pretoria have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. University of Pretoria told Neo Bohloko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Luvoyo Phewa 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vusi Sibiya, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Rivaldo Mphela to a room that had heard them before.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 31 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at University of Pretoria are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kegan Johannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Kaizer Chiefs, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Mcebisi Langa 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rivaldo Mphela on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Chippa United next, and one man in the University of Pretoria dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kegan Johannes 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.
Gontse Molefe 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kaizer Chiefs in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. University of Pretoria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Gift Lorch, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” University of Pretoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kegan Johannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Gift 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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. University of Pretoria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at University of Pretoria saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. University of Pretoria told Gift Lorch something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Rivaldo Mphela to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Luvoyo Phewa's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.