Marked for Siyabonga Mkhize
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gift Mphela breaks a bone — 52 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Free State Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Thamsanqa Williams was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Siyabonga Mkhize signs something — a contract at Free State Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Teboho Dala changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Free State Stars had a different afternoon.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 48. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Oct 2026
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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Morgan Zungu, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dean Mothiba 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 Free State Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Free State Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Percy Mabunda 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Sep 2026
Dean Mothiba hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Free State Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Percy Mabunda takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Percy Mabunda provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match26 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Free State Stars are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
4‑5 to Bidvest Wits, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dean Mothiba 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match26 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Free State Stars and Bidvest Wits, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Percy Mabunda 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
At 20 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 89. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Andile Mabunda at 21 — 7.74
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andile Mabunda did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match19 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Free State Stars are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match19 Sep 2026
Golden Arrows left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andile Mabunda 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 Sep 2026
Words at Free State Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luther 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Thamsanqa Williams'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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Free State Stars, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 64. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
Themba Zwane hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Free State Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Andile Mabunda again, and this time the name on the line is Djoliba. Free State Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Free State Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dean Mothiba 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Kaizer Chiefs, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I want to play”: Percy Dolly speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dean Mothiba 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Percy Mabunda 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Orlando Pirates left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Siyabonga Mkhize, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Ramahlwe Mkhize has come up in conversations Free State Stars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Evidence Jali, 20 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Market17 Aug 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Andile Mabunda’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.