Marked for Taniela Goundar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tailevu Naitasiri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Nov 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Altamish Khan
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Oct 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Usaia Tamaniqio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tailevu Naitasiri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Oct 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ushant Lal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Usaia Tamaniqio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tailevu Naitasiri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Sakaraia Kaumaitotoya, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Usaia Tamaniqio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tailevu Naitasiri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Aug 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Prashant Chand
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Jul 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.
Market31 Jul 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
France Catarogo 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
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Market10 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Sikeli Tuiloma 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
Uneasy
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tailevu Naitasiri may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
No sign of nerves from Altamish Khan at 21 — 7.97
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Altamish Khan did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market3 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Shivneet Sami
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shivneet Sami will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tailevu Naitasiri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Jul 2028
France Catarogo 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 terraces3 Jul 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Altamish 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
The award goes to Sairusi Qiolevu, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Sairusi Qiolevu named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sairusi Qiolevu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match1 Jul 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Lautoka leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
Mohammed Rasasa damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
The offer from Nasinu for Patrick Qaraniqio 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tailevu Naitasiri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad31 Jan 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Altamish Khan 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 Altamish Khan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammed Rasasa
97 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.
Market17 Jan 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tailevu Naitasiri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market17 Jan 2028
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.
Squad17 Jan 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taniela Goundar and Tailevu Naitasiri agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Sep 2027
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
France Catarogo 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.
Squad27 Sep 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Market28 Jun 2027
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.
Match26 Jun 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Tailevu Naitasiri did not have in the autumn.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sairusi Qiolevu 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.
Match26 Jun 2027
A 1‑0 win over Navua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Sairusi Qiolevu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. France Catarogo 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.
Squad28 Jun 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kitione Baleloa: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match16 Jun 2027
Out, 0‑0 to Lautoka, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market21 Jun 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.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
No sign of nerves from Taniela Goundar at 16 — 7.83
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Taniela Goundar did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Tailevu Naitasiri now.
Match19 Jun 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Tailevu Naitasiri did not have in the autumn.
Match19 Jun 2027
Suva made Tailevu Naitasiri work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad21 Jun 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Taniela Goundar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Taniela Goundar could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.69
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.69, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Patrick Qaraniqio at 17 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrick Qaraniqio did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Sikeli Tuiloma 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 ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Taniela Goundar 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.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaery Kubu 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Market8 Feb 2027
The Nasinu deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kirtesh Prasad reports back to Tailevu Naitasiri with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sakaraia Tuyaga is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kalisito Veikoka 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
France Catarogo 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
Uneasy
Market18 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Ba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mosese Nabose. The answer from Tailevu Naitasiri has not changed — yet.
Squad18 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 Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Kalisito Veikoka 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Tailevu Naitasiri will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.