Marked for Aiyush Kumar
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ba
Etonia Dogalau 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.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Suva to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ba and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Ba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiyush Kumar 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
Nasinu come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Newcastle Jets is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Ba
Michael Vonja 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tailevu Naitasiri have kept their man, and Ba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Suva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rusiate Hughes. The answer from Ba has not changed — yet.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Ba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aiyush Kumar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Navua have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Rusiate Hughes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rusiate Hughes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ba
Patrick Joseph and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
87% of the income goes out in wages at Ba
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
Ba lift the trophy
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ba
Etonia Dogalau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Ba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raj Pillay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ba
Etonia Dogalau 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Suva to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ba and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Aiyush Kumar 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ba
Peceli Sukabula 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Aiyush Kumar 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Aiyush Kumar 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Patrick Joseph's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Aiyush Kumar 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The penny has dropped for Kishan Sami
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Ba the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Hayyaan Khan out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ba
Etonia Dogalau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Aiyush Kumar 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Hayyaan Khan breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 14 in, 1 out at Ba
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
So close: Raj Pillay’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Rewa moved on, Raj Pillay reports back to Ba, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lautoka have kept their man, and Ba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Abdul Sahil conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Navua will make the call about Abdul Sahil this week. Ba have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Raj Pillay 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 Raj Pillay trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Rahul Naresh question follows Ba around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rahul Naresh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2026
Ba march on in the cup
Navua are out and Ba go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
36 days out for Hayyaan Khan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market31 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Aiyush Kumar delivers — 7.63
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Aiyush Kumar scored, was marked 7.63, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Etonia Dogalau — 7.96
Marked 7.96. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ba
Peceli Sukabula 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Patrick Joseph's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Ba
A 3‑0 win over Suva, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Hayyaan Khan could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.54
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.54, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Market24 Aug 2026
Terms done: Raj Pillay is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nadroga waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hayyaan Khan breaks a bone — 43 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Aiyush Kumar takes the afternoon — 8.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aiyush Kumar provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ba
Patrick Joseph 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Labasa wanted more than $47.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Ba supporters have found a favourite in Hayyaan Khan
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Hayyaan Khan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $51.8K — a club that wants Aporosa Yada enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$47.0K on the table at Labasa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ba have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Ba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aiyush Kumar 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.