The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luke Baartman did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Maritzburg United know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Terrence Mashego 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑1 draw with Chippa United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Keagan Kekana chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Luke Baartman is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maritzburg United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.97 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Maritzburg United had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.” Keagan Kekana, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Chippa United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Fredrick Asare is on it.
Maritzburg United asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thato Mokeke and Maritzburg United agree another 1 years.
Khama Williams 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Keagan Kekana after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Two goals and a mark of 8.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Maritzburg United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Saziso Magawana 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.
“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 Maritzburg United, and 0 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$18.0K was the most the club would pay and University of Pretoria were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Maritzburg United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Poggenpoel 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 is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Keagan Kekana to a room that had heard them before.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maritzburg United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Maritzburg United know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samkelo Dlamuka is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The offer went to University of Pretoria this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax Cape Town have kept their man, and Maritzburg United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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 Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Maritzburg United will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Terrence Mashego 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.
At 20 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.
A 1‑0 win over University of Pretoria, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Poggenpoel 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.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maritzburg United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Polokwane City will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Maritzburg United were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luke Baartman did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maritzburg United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terrence Mashego 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Keagan Kekana could afford to be generous.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Khama Williams 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luke Baartman did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Maritzburg United know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Khama Williams 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Keagan Kekana left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
Luke Baartman, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20
A mark of 8.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 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.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Thato Mokeke and Maritzburg United agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Position 4, 28 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Kyle Jurgens
Luphumlo Sifumba, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terrence Mashego 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Keagan Kekana could afford to be generous.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mthobisi Zondo, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Thato Mokeke
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Poggenpoel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Free State Stars next, and one man in the Maritzburg United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Maritzburg United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Luke Baartman, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.16
A mark of 8.16 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terrence Mashego 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Platinum Stars scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saziso Magawana 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.
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Keagan Kekana was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Maritzburg United dressing room was either.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maritzburg United has been clear about where Nkanyiso Madonsela stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Khama Williams 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.
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.
Something was said to Risen Albert and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Chippa United next, and one man in the Maritzburg United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Khama Williams 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Luke Baartman 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luke Baartman. 1‑0 against Orlando Pirates, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Keagan Kekana could afford to be generous.
Terrence Mashego 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Maritzburg United will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Orlando Pirates in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Terrence Mashego 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Keagan Kekana after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Brooklyn Poggenpoel is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Joslin Kamatuka has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Something was said to Saziso Magawana and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luphumlo Sifumba did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mthobisi Zondo is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A brace, and Risen Albert takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Risen Albert provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Poggenpoel 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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Keagan Kekana could afford to be generous.
Bloemfontein Celtic next, and one man in the Maritzburg United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ajax Cape Town? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Maritzburg United ran out of time with University of Pretoria. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Darren Keet has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Fezile Gcaba
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fezile Gcaba has come out of that comparison in the side, and Maritzburg United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ajax Cape Town in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maritzburg United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
$37.0K on the table at University of Pretoria. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chances created: 12. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Keagan Kekana kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maritzburg United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tusker waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maritzburg United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maritzburg United can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maritzburg United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Taahir Goedeman decided nobody was going anywhere. Mamelodi Sundowns had no time left to answer.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Siphelele Mthembu was one of the reasons people came, and $740.0K does not replace that by itself.
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 7.93 for the rest of it.
Terrence Mashego 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.
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.
Maritzburg United asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Player ratingsJoslin Kamatuka ran the middle of the pitch — 6.56
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 7.92 for the rest of it.
The deal with Golden Arrows 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritzburg United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Naphtali Mokoena has just signed for Maritzburg United, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Maritzburg United asked and Sigma Olomouc said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kyle Jurgens 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Keagan Mothiba 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darren Keet and Maritzburg United agree another 2 years.
Terrence Mashego 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Maritzburg United, another week without a signature from Darren Keet.
Still no offer on the table, and Kyle Jurgens’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Maritzburg United have made the call to SuperSport United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“29 caps. I have loved every one, and it is somebody else’s turn.” At 35 he has stepped away from his country and is going nowhere at Maritzburg United.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against SuperSport United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.