Thulani Grobler

Central Defender - Free State Stars
3 Jan 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Thulani Grobler

8 Edition

The Free State Stars Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Mandla Mabunda's — 8.96

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Thulani Grobler puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Free State Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Free State Stars

Erick Ngcobo 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.

Match

Mandla Mabunda sends Free State Stars past Ajax Cape Town

It finished 2‑1, and it was Mandla Mabunda’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Free State Stars.

Match

Ajax Cape Town blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Ajax Cape Town tried to reorganise, Free State Stars did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Keagan Tau kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

When it matters, Erick Ngcobo plays

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.

Squad

Player of the week: Mandla Mabunda

Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.

Squad

Young player of the week: Erick Mokoena

At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.

In brief