*Note: this is an updated article on reports related to issues at Kaizer Chiefs
Last month it first emerged that Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper and club captain Itumeleng Khune had reportedly arrived for training under the influence of alcohol, and now faces suspension.
In another report by Sunday World, it was then further reported that there is apparently serious tension brewing between black and coloured players.
According to the article, black players have claimed their ‘coloured’ teammates receive preferential treatment from the club’s management. In one example cited, it’s reported that coloured players, apparently led by Keagan Dolly and Brandon Peterson, were allowed to leave the team hotel for a ‘big’ night out to watch the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup final.
Understandably, the story has led to a reaction within the club, and in an updated report from the weekend paper, sources close to the club have highlighted that there is an investigation under way to determine how this was leaked to the media, and whether there is any accuracy to the information.
Of course, a major concern is how this could undermine the reputation and status of the club.
“Several senior players were asked whether they knew who leaked the information. But players told management they did not know how the information found its way to the media and were equally disturbed about the leaked information,” the report stated, while adding that they also “vowed to assist the team to locate the Judas’s”.
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Chiefs did respond to the allegations
Kaizer Chiefs interim coach Cavin Johnson has suggested too much has been made of it.
“Kaizer Chiefs, being the big brand they are, I think there are a lot of people trying to take the brand to a lower level,” he said. “In reality there is no brand that is strong as this brand. Whatever you can find, whatever you can do to discredit them is always in the papers.
“I think it’s not only now, it’s been for a good few years. Myself, being born in a country with black and white, I know how to handle these things.When it comes to those things it’s like water on a ducks back for me, because if you’re born in the era of black and white and now there is colour, then you know how to handle those things.
“We deals with those things properly in our village, of that sort of nature with the players. You can see on the pitch that they wan to do it for each other.
“I lead the team and when you look at the back of me, when you look at the people on the side of me then you can see it’s what we’ve been pressing for, is the three points.”
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The original report can be seen below:
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