Kick Off December 2020

When it comes to the issue of buying and selling of clubs, the Premier Soccer League needs to tread carefully and introduce stringent rules that will make it difficult for new members to ruin the reputation of the league. As illustrated in our latest feature on page 20 titled, The Best and The worst of all time; the League has had 41 clubs since its inception in 1996. And that is a lot of clubs in a league where the number of top-flight teams has been 16 since 2001 While the likes of Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United have been a consistent feature in the League, we have also seen a number of fly-by-night operators who buy club status’s before vanishing in thin air because they…

Hunt not known for champagne football First of all, to be clear, I support Kaizer Chiefs. However, when I saw the club sack Ernst Middendorp, to say I was shocked is an understatement! To say I was surprised when the club then appointed Gavin Hunt… I was surprised even further! Here’s why. Hunt, a proven title-winning coach is not known for his ‘champagne’ football. Hunt is a results driven coach, long ball, with wide players etc – in my view, this is more important than the type of football you play. This is where I find the appointment of Hunt puzzling. Yes, he is an extremely successful coach who won the league at Wits on a smaller budget, but is he the coach to win with ‘style’ as some Chiefs…

GOOD MONTH FOR… BONGANI ZUNGU Zungu’s dream of a move to Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Premiership has turned into a reality and he will now work with former midfield maestro Steven Gerrard, who is the manager at Ibrox. That can only be good for his game, as is the fact that the league is closely watched by English Premiership clubs BAD MONTH FOR… MARITZBURG UNITED Four defeats in four games in all competitions at the start of the new season extends a run of 10 matches without a win, seven of which have been lost. Can coach Eric Tinkler turn things around for The Team of Choice? ALSO LAST MONTH… • Steve Komphela moves from the head coach role at Lamontville Golden Arrows to a new ‘senior coach’ position…

In the first two matches that Terrence Dzvukamanja played for BidVest Wits after signing from Zimbabwean club Ngezi Platinum two-and-a-half years ago, he had an assist on debut and then scored one and created another in his second match against Kaizer Chiefs. In announcing his arrival at his new club Orlando Pirates this season, he scored on debut and then came up with an assist a fortnight later in a match where Chiefs were again the opponents. Dzvukamanja has always had a big match temperament from the time he played in the amateur ranks at Makwiro FC, through to when he joined Ngezi while they were still a third-tier league club and twice won promotion with them to the Zimbabwe Premier League. “Terrence seems to have a small body but…

How have Zimbabweans fared at Orlando Pirates since the start of the Premier Soccer League in the 1996/97 season? It is fair to say Pirates has not been a popular destination for Zimbabwean footballers through the years with Dzvukamanja becoming only the 10th payer from across the Limpopo to wear the black and white colours in the PSL era. This is rather strange considering that Zimbabwe is South Africa’s strongest football playing neighbour and exports huge numbers to clubs in the PSL and the First Division. The first Zimbabwean to play at Pirates in the PSL years was Innocent Chikoya after he joined in July 1999 from Manning Rangers, where he had been a success through the years he spent in the coast after a stint with African Wanderers. Chikoya spent four…

Terrence Dzvukamanja has an older brother named Admire who also played as a striker in his heydays and even won caps for the Warriors. When South Africa faced Zimbabwe back on March 11, 2008, Admire Dzvukamanja came on as a substitute late in the game which was won 2-1 by Bafana Bafana. Admire played for Highlanders, Dynamos, Lengthens and Douglas Warriors amongst other teams in Zimbabwe. Much was expected from him but he never lived up to expectations. “I played with Admire a bit in the national team, including in that game against Bafana Bafana. He could keep and protect the ball well because he had power but then his scoring rate wasn’t that good for a striker,” says former Platinum Stars and University of Pretoria defender Obert Moyo.…