Marked for Sam German
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Oct 2027
Hayyaan Khan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Ba
Lucas Abarca 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Ba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malakai Rere 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Misiwani Nairube, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
“I watch every Ba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Suva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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.
Market18 Oct 2027
The Lucas Abarca question follows Ba around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lucas Abarca’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
10 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
11 appearances at Rewa and the goals keep coming. Ba are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ba people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Ba
Lucas Abarca 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
Suva are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ba will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Ba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raj Pillay 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hayyaan Khan and Ba agree another 3 years.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A quiet fortnight at Ba
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
Ba counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ba now.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Lucas Abarca has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Aiyush Kumar
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Raj Pillay falls out with a teammate over standards
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 dugout23 Aug 2027
Nabil Begg has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The formation has left Sam German behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ba will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Mosese Naba gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market23 Aug 2027
The name of Etonia Dogalau keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ba say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Lucas Abarca has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Lucas Abarca keeps the shirt for now, at Ba's convenience rather than his own.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Aiyush Kumar knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aiyush Kumar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nasinu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market16 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Etonia Dogalau has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Suliano Tawanakoro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market16 Aug 2027
The Lucas Abarca story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Abarca signs something — a contract at Ba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
10 appearances at Rewa and the goals keep coming. Ba are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Somebody is after Lucas Abarca’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Lucas Abarca suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Ba have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
11 appearances at Rewa and the goals keep coming. Ba are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.