Marked for Mohammed Ledua
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Navua
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Navua
Shaheel Valentine 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.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Navua asked and Lautoka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Navua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Titus Bulus 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.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Ledua, and the manager let it.
Market27 Aug 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khama Mothiba signs something — a contract at Navua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Jul 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
Sitiveni Nabenia: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Navua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Navua have done the hard part with Labasa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Navua
Nemani Dolodai 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Navua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Titus Bulus 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.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Ledua, and the manager let it.
Market16 Jul 2029
The name of Shaheel Valentine keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Navua say nothing, which says plenty.
Match16 Jul 2029
Navua in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 21 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market16 Jul 2029
Navua have made Isikeli Nawalu available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Jul 2029
Navua taken apart
0‑3 to Rewa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match9 Jul 2029
Full time on the season at Navua
Position 6 on 21 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad9 Jul 2029
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market9 Jul 2029
“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 Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Khama Mothiba commits to Navua for another 4 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Navua
Shaheel Valentine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Nobody left the Navua dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 May 2029
Words exchanged at Navua
Shaheel Valentine 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Titus Bulus 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.
Match12 May 2029
A bad afternoon for Navua against Nasinu
0‑2 to Nasinu, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 May 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout14 May 2029
Voniani Smith knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Navua, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 May 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nemani Dolodai is on it.
The dugout14 May 2029
“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.
Looking ahead14 May 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Shaheel Valentine’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Navua needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Mar 2029
The mood at Navua has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Chris Reid breaks a bone — 24 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Napolioni Baledrokadroka did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Navua
Christian Gray 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.
Match24 Mar 2029
Nadroga made Navua work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Navua
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Titus Bulus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces26 Mar 2029
At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces6 Nov 2028
Anger at Navua spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jale Drudru has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Navua
Shaheel Valentine 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.
Market6 Nov 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Chris Reid gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Chris Reid is on it.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Ledua, and the manager let it.
Market6 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Christian Gray’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad6 Nov 2028
The penny has dropped for Titus Bulus
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Navua the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Navua
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Navua is running low.
Match30 Oct 2028
Every point is an argument now for Navua
Position 8 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Navua counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Navua now.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Navua
Christian Gray 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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
128% of the income goes out in wages at Navua
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Jared Rongosulia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Navua 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
The Titus Bulus story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Titus Bulus signs something — a contract at Navua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Mohammed Ledua knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Navua, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Sep 2028
Navua and Titus Bulus are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad18 Sep 2028
7 new faces, and Navua are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Christian Gray is on it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Navua are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“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.
Market18 Sep 2028
Still no signature from Zainal Ali
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Navua could get for him.
Market18 Sep 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matt Van Hattum’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market18 Sep 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Meli Talevakarua may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jovilisi Borisi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Navua the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Labasa have kept their man, and Navua go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Navua have made the call to Labasa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marlon Qaraniqio and Navua agree another 3 years.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Ledua, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Jared Rongosulia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Navua 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 dugout31 Jul 2028
Shofwaan Ali 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 Shofwaan Ali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kolinio Sivoki’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Jun 2028
5 matches without a win for Navua
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Navua are no longer polite ones.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market12 Jun 2028
Voniani Smith has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Navua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Meli Talevakarua and Navua agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Matt Van Hattum scored one and made one — 7.94
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.94, and 2 involvements.
Match10 Jun 2028
Navua come up short against Suva
Suva left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Navua asked and Rewa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Navua
Matthew Charitar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Navua
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market27 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Navua
Matt Van Hattum 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Isikeli Nawalu 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 Isikeli Nawalu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Questions about Arami Manumanubhai on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Dec 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Navua
Christian Gray 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.
Boardroom13 Dec 2027
Belts tighten at Navua
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Arami Manumanubhai 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market13 Dec 2027
Navua and Zainal Ali are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nickel Cama and Navua agree another 3 years.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matthew Portelli, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Competition arrives for Chris Reid
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Navua have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.