Puleng Marema

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Polokwane City
21 Nov 2026
Saturday
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Marked for Puleng Marema

12 Edition

The Polokwane City Courier

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings19 Oct 2026

Vintage Puleng Marema — 8.17

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.17, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad19 Oct 2026

A row about effort at Polokwane City

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brian Bwire was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad19 Oct 2026

Tempers go at Polokwane City

Tlou Nkwe 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.

Match17 Oct 2026

Polokwane City find a way past Free State Stars

Free State Stars made Polokwane City work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings19 Oct 2026

Monty Batlhabane beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout19 Oct 2026

Gift Mphela: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.

Market19 Oct 2026

No place for Tshilidzi Nemuntandani in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tshilidzi Nemuntandani has his answer from Polokwane City; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout19 Oct 2026

No hiding place for Lindokuhle Mathebula

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lindokuhle Mathebula, and the manager let it.

The dugout19 Oct 2026

Simon Ramabu gets picked when it counts

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 Simon Ramabu is on it.

In brief

Back issues
7 Edition

The Polokwane City Courier

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match9 Sep 2026

The cup run ends for Polokwane City

1‑2 against Bidvest Wits, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad14 Sep 2026

Lindokuhle Mathebula keeps Polokwane City in it on his own

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.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Age has not caught Puleng Marema yet — 8.18

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad14 Sep 2026

Brian Bwire 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 terraces14 Sep 2026

The crowd has taken to Simon Ramabu

At 23 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.

Match12 Sep 2026

Rodney Maphangule sends Polokwane City past Jomo Cosmos

It finished 2‑0, and it was Rodney Maphangule’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Polokwane City.

Market14 Sep 2026

One of our own: Bradley Manyama joins the Polokwane City first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bradley Manyama is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Ninety minutes of Simon Ramabu at his very best

Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Polokwane City.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Rodney Maphangule in the eights

A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

6 Edition

The Polokwane City Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad7 Sep 2026

A one-man rearguard from Brian Bwire

There were 11 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.

Market7 Sep 2026

Stockport County come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Polokwane City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market7 Sep 2026

Keabetswe Kungwane 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 Polokwane City can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom7 Sep 2026

Polokwane City close the window on a squad of their own making

8 in and 21 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.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Words at Polokwane City training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Bwire 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.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Monty Batlhabane 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 Polokwane City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings7 Sep 2026

Nothing got past Lebohang Nkaki

18 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.

Player ratings7 Sep 2026

Thabang Matuludi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Monty Batlhabane named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Monty Batlhabane is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

5 Edition

The Polokwane City Courier

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings31 Aug 2026

Puleng Marema, 35, rolls back the years — 8.13

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market31 Aug 2026

Siyabonga Mashinini 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 Polokwane City, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market31 Aug 2026

Stockport County watching Puleng Marema

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Polokwane City have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

Felipe Longo is a medical away from Polokwane City

The deal with Corinthians 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.

Squad31 Aug 2026

Words exchanged at Polokwane City

Tlou Nkwe 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.

Match29 Aug 2026

Puleng Marema sends Polokwane City past Black Aces

It finished 1‑0, and it was Puleng Marema’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Polokwane City.

The dugout31 Aug 2026

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.” Gift Mphela, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout31 Aug 2026

Thabelo Tshikweta 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.

Player ratings31 Aug 2026

Monty Batlhabane beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 11. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

1 Edition

The Polokwane City Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad3 Aug 2026

Thabang Matuludi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thabang Matuludi and Polokwane City agree another 3 years.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Words at Polokwane City training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Bwire 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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

A falling-out at Polokwane City

Tlou Nkwe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market3 Aug 2026

Lebohang Mankga attracts admirers

The name of Lebohang Mankga has come up in conversations Polokwane City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Market3 Aug 2026

Still no ink between Polokwane City and Puleng Marema

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Polokwane City, another week without a signature from Puleng Marema.

Market3 Aug 2026

Nobody at Polokwane City has picked up the phone to Brian Bwire

49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

In brief