It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Golden Arrows know 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 Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Maritzburg United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Owugha Tonyemiete is living that version at Golden Arrows, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
He is 20, and nobody at Golden Arrows signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Thokozani Khumalo had Golden Arrows level again within 4 minutes, and Mamelodi Sundowns never got to play with a lead at all.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Thabo Matlaba will call it something else in private.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Jerome Karelse will want back
Nduduzo Sibiya 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 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Ayanda Jiyane 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Golden Arrows know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Marked 5.47. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
In brief
BoardroomThe Golden Arrows production line keeps running
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gladwin Shitolo 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.
Isaac Cissé 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.
Marked 8.99 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Golden Arrows, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Samkelo Dlamuka 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.
Marked 8.82 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Golden Arrows told Velemseni Ndwandwe something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Golden Arrows has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thabo Matlaba, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Nduduzo Sibiya was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
It needed Nduduzo Sibiya to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Mamelodi Sundowns, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nobody at Golden Arrows 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.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Golden Arrows know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Marked 5.35. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Olwethu Ncube will want back
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
“I watch every Golden Arrows game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Free State Stars runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Golden Arrows has been clear about where Keenan Phillips stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sifiso Mlungwana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Golden Arrows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thabo Matlaba 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I did not go to Orlando Pirates to sit and watch. I want to come back to Golden Arrows and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Position 3, 50 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Golden Arrows they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Golden Arrows is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Thabo Matlaba 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Golden Arrows have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thabo Matlaba and Golden Arrows agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Golden Arrows they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gladwin Shitolo 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thabo Matlaba, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Nduduzo Sibiya was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
“I watch every Golden Arrows game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gor Mahia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Themba Mantshiyane.
The offer from Bidvest Wits for Angelo Van Rooi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gladwin Shitolo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Golden Arrows 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 Golden Arrows is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ayabulela Maxwele provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Edward Maova: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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 Golden Arrows, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken Stabiso Njoko to Jomo Cosmos has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Golden Arrows with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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 deal that would have taken Philani Khumalo to Bloemfontein Celtic has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Golden Arrows with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Thabo Matlaba 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.
“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 Golden Arrows, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thabo Matlaba 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 name of Kwanele Nayo has come up in conversations Golden Arrows were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
3 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thabo Matlaba and Golden Arrows 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 Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.