Arthur Zwane trained with The Amakhosi for the first time in just over a week on Wednesday morning, as he had been away for the past couple of days attending the funeral of his late grandfather Douglas Zwane.

The senior Zwane passed away just prior to Chiefs SAA Supa8 semifinal match against Moroka Swallows in Durban on the 24th of September, and was laid to rest this past Saturday (30-09-06). A number of Arthur’s team-mates including Chiefs head of communications Thebe Mohatle were at the funeral service to offer their condolences to the Zwane family on behalf of the club.

As a result of the bereavement in his family, Arthur did not travel with the team to Durban over the weekend when Chiefs ran out 2-1 winners over Golden Arrows in Chatsworth.

Welcoming Arthur back to training on Wednesday was coach Ernst Middendorp who commented “we gave him time off to take care of his personal issues, we got the news of his grandfather's passing just before we were due to play Swallows in the SAA Supa8 semifinal. The sensible thing to do was to give him time off to cope with the loss, he started training again on Wednesday morning and he put in a lot of effort in the session and I am sure like the rest of the team he is now fully focused on next weeks game with Sundowns”.

Arthur, who celebrated his thirty-third birthday on the 20th of September, is upbeat about next weekends game with Sundowns, and is holding on after losing a grandfather who he shared a special relationship with.

“It is always hard to come to terms with the loss of someone who was close and dear to you, my grandfather will always be close to me,” added Zwane.

The Chiefs midfielder also feels that the best way to keep alive the hard working ethic of his late Grand father, will be with a win against Sundowns next weekend which will bring Chiefs title aspirations back in the fast lane.

He further added, “My grandfather also encouraged me to be the best at everything I did, I will keep it up when we take on Sundowns next weekend at Chiefs we love winning things and our finest moments come when we defeat the big guns the likes of Pirates and Sundowns”.

With eight first team squad members on international duty this week, Ernst Middendorp was pleased to have Arthur Zwane back at training, as he was able to add strength to what has been a depleted Amakhosi squad this week.