Marked for Bongani Zwane
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Lebogang Jali damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Jayden Adams in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Itumeleng Zwane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
66 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Itumeleng Zwane
“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.
The dugout3 May 2027
Bongani Zwane has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Itumeleng Zwane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phakamani Mahlambi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Everybody at Black Aces saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Tsiki Ntsabeleng is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Bradley Jali 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Bongani Zwane has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Mar 2027
Black Aces finish in position 9
39 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Jayden Adams 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 ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Itumeleng Zwane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Mar 2027
Golden Arrows left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andile Jali after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Evidence Phiri has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A Black Aces teenager takes the young player award
Bongani Zwane is 17, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Bongani Zwane at 17 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bongani Zwane did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Jayden Adams in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phakamani Mahlambi 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 terraces15 Mar 2027
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match13 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Teboho Ngcobo. 2‑0 against Free State Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Jayden Adams
7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Black Aces had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Andile Jali could afford to be generous.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Simphiwe Selepe has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Black Aces's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Black Aces has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Phakamani Mahlambi and Black Aces agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Jayden Adams and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phakamani Mahlambi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Itumeleng Zwane
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Itumeleng Zwane has come out of that comparison in the side, and Black Aces have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match6 Mar 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Platinum Stars leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Gift Mabunda 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Half-satisfied: Andile Jali on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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.