It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason University of Pretoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Risen Albert scored in the 88th minute, Orlando Pirates had already begun thinking about the journey home, and University of Pretoria took the lot.
Veli Mothwa 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Risen Albert. 1‑0 against Orlando Pirates, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Prince Nxumalo has his answer from University of Pretoria; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
9 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Thokozani Sekotlong 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Frédéric Banga has just signed for University of Pretoria, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luvoyo Phewa 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.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. University of Pretoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Luvoyo Phewa 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” University of Pretoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at University of Pretoria has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at University of Pretoria has been clear about where Jordan Allies stands, which is more than many ever get.
Veli Mothwa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thokozani Sekotlong 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.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. University of Pretoria lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Luvoyo Phewa 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Jomo Cosmos defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Luvoyo Phewa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thokozani Sekotlong 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Risen Albert has his answer from University of Pretoria; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at University of Pretoria has to find a result from somewhere.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” University of Pretoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what University of Pretoria can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luke Daniels and University of Pretoria agree another 4 years.
Veli Mothwa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luvoyo Phewa 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.
Veli Mothwa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luvoyo Phewa 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 words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what University of Pretoria can pretend not to have heard.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at University of Pretoria has to find a result from somewhere.
Samuel Julies 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.
Veli Mothwa 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.
Bloemfontein Celtic paid $56.0K and University of Pretoria took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” University of Pretoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Veli Mothwa 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried 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 University of Pretoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siyanda Msani 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at University of Pretoria can tell you which week it ends in.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at University of Pretoria, another week without a signature from Bantu Chingi.
Bloemfontein Celtic arrived with $320.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Risen Albert decided nobody was going anywhere. Black Aces had no time left to answer.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Supporters turn on the $320.0K sale of Thabo Nkwana
He is going to Bloemfontein Celtic, the club has $320.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Veli Mothwa 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 Sep 2026
Siyanda Msani 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.
A place in the month's best eleven for Luvoyo Phewa
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Luvoyo Phewa has come out of that comparison in the side, and University of Pretoria have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.