Marked for Rushwin Dortley
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kaizer Chiefs is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khanyisa Mayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Inácio Miguel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
He is 22 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Khanyisa Mayo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Lebohang Maboe has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Kaizer Chiefs.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tebogo Mlangeni and Kaizer Chiefs agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market8 Feb 2027
Given Msimango has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kaizer Chiefs they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khanyisa Mayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kaizer Chiefs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“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 Kaizer Chiefs, and 1 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.38 on the card, and the Kaizer Chiefs support went home talking about one name.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Rushwin Dortley is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Itumeleng Tau after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kaizer Chiefs have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Kaizer Chiefs, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Mduduzi Shabalala takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mduduzi Shabalala provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kaizer Chiefs is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Asanele Velebayi 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Kaizer Chiefs training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khanyisa Mayo 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kaizer Chiefs have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kaizer Chiefs can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Both of them Pule Mmodi's — 8.07
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Kaizer Chiefs sell a favourite for $540.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Flávio Silva was one of the reasons people came, and $540.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
No thanks: Anísio Cabral rejects the move
Kaizer Chiefs had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mduduzi Shabalala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Jan 2027
A 4‑3 win over SuperSport United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kaizer Chiefs have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match9 Jan 2027
0‑3 to Bidvest Wits, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Kaizer Chiefs, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Chelsea keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kaizer Chiefs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Imaad Hendricks is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Kaizer Chiefs training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Maboe 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Kaizer Chiefs go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Siphesihle Ndlovu takes the afternoon — 8.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Siphesihle Ndlovu provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Imaad Hendricks is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Khanyisa Mayo 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Thabiso Monyane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mduduzi Shabalala 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Asanele Velebayi at his very best
Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kaizer Chiefs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Dec 2026
Bloemfontein Celtic ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 7 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Edson Castillo pops up at the right end — 7.89
7.89, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market7 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Takalani Mazhamba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kaizer Chiefs the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mduduzi Shabalala 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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Maboe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.01 — 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 dugout7 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Given Msimango: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kaizer Chiefs have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Kaizer Chiefs training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Maboe 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Inácio Miguel 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 dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Lebohang Maboe knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kaizer Chiefs, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Rushwin Dortley has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kaizer Chiefs 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
Upbeat
Market9 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Takalani Mazhamba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kaizer Chiefs the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Zitha Kwinika 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Maboe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Flávio Silva 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Khanyisa Mayo
7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kaizer Chiefs had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Itumeleng Tau could afford to be generous.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Lebohang Maboe knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lebohang Maboe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kaizer Chiefs they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mduduzi Shabalala 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Muhammad Bower is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Kaizer Chiefs training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mfundo Vilakazi 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mfundo Vilakazi
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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 Rushwin Dortley is on it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Thabo Cele asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Etiosa Ighodaro’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kaizer Chiefs needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$1.4M on the table at Mamelodi Sundowns. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Gor Mahia for Connor Jales 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sibongiseni Mthethwa 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
SuperSport United wanted more than $87.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town pay $290.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Kaizer Chiefs training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Maboe 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.