From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 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 Chippa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
173% of the income goes out in wages at Chippa United
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Sandile Khumalo
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Boy Madingwana. 1‑0 against Polokwane City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Sirgio Kammies out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chippa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Azola Matrose 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Mamelodi Sundowns left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abbubaker Mobara, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Asanele Bonani 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Abram Mashele damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Sirgio Kammies out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chippa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Sep 2026
Boy Madingwana had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and SuperSport United were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chippa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Sep 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 Chippa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Justice Figuareido 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abram Mashele
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chippa United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Sep 2026
Bloemfontein Celtic go through and Chippa United go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 36 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 29. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Chippa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Azola Matrose 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Giovanni Philander 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Abram Mashele damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Sep 2026
Bongani Sam 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 Chippa United can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
He is going to Free State Stars, the club has $360.0K 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.
Squad7 Sep 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 Chippa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Sep 2026
Free State Stars paid $360.0K and Chippa United took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Chippa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Asanele Bonani 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Abram Mashele damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chippa United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 6 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Goodman Mosele 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
“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
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Azola Matrose to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Free State Stars, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Shooting Stars for Boy Madingwana 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Asanele Bonani at 20 — 7.93
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Asanele Bonani did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Chippa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Khaya Mfecane
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khaya Mfecane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chippa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Chippa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Chippa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Philander 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Asanele Bonani. 2‑1 against Platinum Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Azola Matrose 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.94 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Chippa United had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Goodman Mosele 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Dumisani Msibi
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Asanele Bonani 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Sirgio Kammies has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Chippa United.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Chippa United will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Goodman Mosele
Nobody at Chippa United is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
5.55 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Goodman Mosele 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ramahlwe Billiat has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gift Jali has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justice Figuareido, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Chippa United turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Chippa United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abbubaker Mobara commits to Chippa United for another 2 years.
Squad3 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 Chippa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Chippa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Philander 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.