Marked for Mosese Naba
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
135% 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Samuel Navoce
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The Leandro Ruiz talk will not go away
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
Ba say no — this time
The offer from Labasa for Hayyaan Khan was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Lucas Abarca in a row with a teammate
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Ratu Dau again, and this time the name on the line is Navua. Ba are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market4 Jan 2027
No place for Mosese Naba in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mosese Naba has his answer from Ba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market4 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Etonia Dogalau’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Questions about Etonia Dogalau 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
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Lucas Abarca in a row with a teammate
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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Lautoka to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ba and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Market23 Nov 2026
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
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ba
Darold Kakasi 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 watch26 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ba, and 0 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
Market26 Oct 2026
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
Steady
Squad5 Oct 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 Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 511% of everything Lautoka earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market5 Oct 2026
The name of Epeli Leiroti keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Lautoka say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
56 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ba
Darold Kakasi 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 watch14 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ba, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Market14 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Etonia Dogalau’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market14 Sep 2026
The market said no: Abdul Sahil stays put
Ba opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Abdul Sahil stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Questions about Sailasa Ratu 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
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Lautoka march on in the cup
Nasinu are out and Lautoka go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Edward Justin hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lautoka can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 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 Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.94, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
At 20 years old, Sekove Luma became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
5.50 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lucas Abarca in a row with a teammate
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
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Etonia Dogalau’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ba have made Abdul Sahil available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Lautoka sell their best player to Nadi
$10.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The Kishan Sami story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kishan Sami signs something — a contract at Lautoka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.