It took Bidvest Wits FC 96 years to become South African
champions for the first time, and now they are on course to win a
second title just two seasons later.
Hlatshwayo (L), captain of South African Premiership leaders Bidvest
Wits FC, in action for the national team against Angola
The Johannesburg outfit lead Orlando
Pirates by three points as the second half of the season begins this
weekend, but have no African commitments unlike three title rivals.
South African clubs have consistently
struggled to excel simultaneously in local and international
competitions and this could give Wits a crucial edge.
Known
as the Clever Boys, the club play in a university campus with the
5,000-seat ground bordered by a planetarium and the
Johannesburg-Pretoria highway.
AFP Sport highlights five issues in the
richest national football league in Africa, with clubs contesting 30
million rand (about $2.1m/1.8m euros) in prize money.
Title race
After many predictable title chases, the scene
is set for an exciting second half of the season with Wits, Pirates and
defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns looking strongest.
Wits are built around a strong rearguard that
includes national squad regulars in goalkeeper Darren Keet and defenders
Thulani Hlatshwayo, Buhle Mkhwanazi and Sifiso Hlanti.
Pirates and Sundowns have to play six CAF
Champions League group matches each by mid-March, including
time-consuming trips to west and north Africa, and that could count
against them.
Polokwane rise
The surprise side among the championship
challengers is Polokwane City from the capital of the northern province,
who lie fourth, seven points behind Wits.
They are a club without big-name players who
attract modest crowds and usually battle against relegation. They
finished 12th last season.
But a pre-season change of coaches, with
Slovak Jozef Vukusic taking, over has dramatically improved a team built
around 36-year-old playmaker Jabu Maluleke.
Maritzburg fall
Maritzburg United were the revelations of last
season, finishing fourth in the Premiership and reaching the South
African FA Cup final under 37-year-old coach Fadlu Davids.
But halfway through this season Untied are
bottom of the table with only one victory, five goals and 11 points from
14 matches and Davids has been sacked.
Turkish-born replacement Muhsin Ertugral knows
all about relegation battles having failed to save Ajax Cape Town from
the drop last season.
Coaching shake-up
Ertugral was part of a coaching shake-up
during the mid-season break affecting Maritzburg, seventh-place
Bloemfontein Celtic and bottom-half Golden Arrows.
Arrows fired Clinton Larsen after only three
wins in 15 matches and hired former South Africa captain and defender
Steve Komphela from Celtic.
The loss of Komphela deepened the problems of
Celtic, who have yet to find a replacement amid financial turmoil with
the owner admitting he cannot afford to bankroll the club.
Goal drought
The glaring weakness in the Premiership is scoring.
Last season, the joint winners of the Golden Boot managed just 11 goals each from a 30-round championship.
This season, midfielder Mothobi Mvala, from
mid-table Highlands Park, tops the goal charts with seven from 15
matches, using his height and physique to good effect in the air.
Another concern for national coach Stuart
Baxter is that five of the top 10 scorers are foreign, coming from
Zimbabwe (two), Argentina, Scotland and Zambia.