Marked for Christopher Singh
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
Market28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market28 Jun 2027
Ba say no — this time
The offer from Nasinu for Darold Kakasi 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
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.
The dugout28 Jun 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Rewa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
Match26 Jun 2027
Nadi take the points off Ba
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Ba training over how hard people work
-
Match
After 4 games, Ba finally taste it again
-
The dugout
Roy Sorovi faces the questions
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Apr 2027
4 matches without a win for Ba
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ba are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Raj Pillay beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Apr 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Ba are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match24 Apr 2027
Ba come up short against Nadi
Nadi left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Roy Sorovi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Belts tighten at Ba
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.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2027
A test against the best for Ba
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Lautoka.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
A one-man rearguard from Tevita Koroi
There were 7 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Raj Pillay runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Ba come up short against Navua
Navua left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Roy Sorovi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Apr 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rahul Naresh, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Nadi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Etonia Dogalau takes the afternoon — 8.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Etonia Dogalau provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match20 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, Ba do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match20 Mar 2027
Ba get the job done against Rewa
A 2‑1 win over Rewa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad22 Mar 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Ba hit back inside 3 minutes
Rewa held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Ba answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
“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 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Roy Sorovi on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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 Etonia Dogalau is on it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
The afternoon ran through Raj Pillay
Chances created: 10. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Ba
A 2‑1 win over Navua, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Nadroga have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raj Pillay. The answer from Ba has not changed — yet.
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
Marked 7.88 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ba had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Kishan Sami'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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Roy Sorovi on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Suliano Tawanakoro
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Ba march on in the cup
Suva are out and Ba go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 Aug 2026
Cruel end for Suva as Ba pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ba scored in the 110th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Ba support went home talking about one name.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christopher Singh commits to Ba for another 3 years.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Roy Sorovi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
$3.0K — a new record at Ba
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Navua waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Ba spend $3.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.0K for Savenaca Nakalevu, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.