Marked for Misaele Kumar
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Nov 2029
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tailevu Naitasiri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Ali Mekawir 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 dugout12 Nov 2029
Misaele Kumar faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Misaele Kumar.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rishal Shankar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Misaele Kumar, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Nov 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 Atunaisa Naucukidi is on it.
Squad12 Nov 2029
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Tailevu Naitasiri lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
Alipate Matai asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2029
Evander Nasova damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tailevu Naitasiri can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Ali Mekawir 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
Misaele Kumar faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Misaele Kumar.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
This is not rotation. Joel Kane has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri is pretending otherwise.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
Ali Mekawir 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aporosa Verevou 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.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
Nobody arrives at Tailevu Naitasiri until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Tailevu Naitasiri this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The dugout5 Nov 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 Daniel Graskoski is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evander Nasova
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tailevu Naitasiri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match29 Oct 2029
Position 10, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market29 Oct 2029
Joel Kane 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 Tailevu Naitasiri can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Ali Mekawir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Misaele Kumar faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Misaele Kumar.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Kane 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 dugout29 Oct 2029
Amani Lal has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri 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
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evander Nasova
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tailevu Naitasiri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces22 Oct 2029
Supporters organise against the Tailevu Naitasiri board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Tailevu Naitasiri is running low.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Misaele Kumar faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Misaele Kumar.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rishal Shankar 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Atunaisa Naucukidi 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
Ravikash Krishna has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri 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.
Market22 Oct 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Joel Kane may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evander Nasova
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tailevu Naitasiri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Rishal Shankar 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 dugout15 Oct 2029
Misaele Kumar faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Misaele Kumar.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aporosa Verevou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
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.
Market15 Oct 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Atunaisa Naucukidi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Patrick Ravai 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 Patrick Ravai trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Will Smith is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evander Nasova
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tailevu Naitasiri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
Setareki Drudru has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tailevu Naitasiri can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Oct 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 Tailevu Naitasiri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Mosese Nabose and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
Misaele Kumar faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Misaele Kumar.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
This is not rotation. Joel Kane has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri is pretending otherwise.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
The manager's exit leaves Ali Mekawir exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ali Mekawir is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
Nobody arrives at Tailevu Naitasiri until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Tailevu Naitasiri this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
Evander Nasova damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tailevu Naitasiri can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Mekawir and Tailevu Naitasiri agree another 4 years.
Market10 Sep 2029
As if he never left: Misaele Kumar returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Misaele Kumar is a Tailevu Naitasiri player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Ali Mekawir 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
This is not rotation. Joel Kane has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri is pretending otherwise.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rishal Shankar 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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout10 Sep 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 Daniel Graskoski is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Tailevu Naitasiri had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rewa, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Taniela Rakariva 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abhishek Deo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Jul 2028
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Prashant Chand, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A loan move for Penisoni Tirau is in the works
Tailevu Naitasiri have made the call to Ba. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rajneel Singh, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Shivneet Sami 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 Shivneet Sami is on it.
Market24 Jul 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tailevu Naitasiri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Kalisito Veikoka asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
Prashant Chand damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad24 Apr 2028
There were 6 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Mosese Nabose 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
A 1‑0 win over Suva, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abhishek Deo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Apr 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Setareki Drudru, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout24 Apr 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 Ravikash Krishna is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
11 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tailevu Naitasiri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match17 Apr 2028
Position 10, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market17 Apr 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 Tailevu Naitasiri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match15 Apr 2028
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nadroga were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Iosefo Verevou 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.
Squad17 Apr 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jan 2028
Misaele Kumar 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 Tailevu Naitasiri can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with Nadi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Mosese Nabose and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abhishek Deo 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
Sakiusa Saqiri has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tailevu Naitasiri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.