Marked for Maleli Tuinakauvadra
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tuiba Batiratu
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match8 Oct 2029
Nadi are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 32 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market8 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nadi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad8 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Nadi
Nilkash Prasad 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 dugout8 Oct 2029
Anare Verevou knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nadi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“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.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
Isikeli Singh has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nadi 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A season on the outside for Anare Verevou
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Nadi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Sep 2029
Nadi up to position 3
32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nadi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nadi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nadi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
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The dugout10 Sep 2029
“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 dugout10 Sep 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.
Market10 Sep 2029
The Jimson Abana story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jimson Abana signs something — a contract at Nadi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Eneriko Matau joins up with his country. Nadi lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout3 Sep 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
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Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 5 in, 6 out at Nadi
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market3 Sep 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Nadi
Vishant Reddy 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 dugout3 Sep 2029
Eneriko Matau has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nadi 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.
Market3 Sep 2029
The Rocky Junior story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rocky Junior signs something — a contract at Nadi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Ratu Halstead is 37, with 24 appearances behind him, and Nadi will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Market3 Sep 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Maleli Tuinakauvadra may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nadi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match13 Aug 2029
Nadi refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market13 Aug 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 Nadi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aporosa Swamy and Nadi agree another 4 years.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Nadi
Vishant Reddy 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 dugout13 Aug 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout13 Aug 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
A loan move for Tito Begg is in the works
Nadi have made the call to Tailevu Naitasiri. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
Isikeli Singh 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 Isikeli Singh is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Apr 2029
42 days out for Ratu Halstead after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nadi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
An average of 6.56 in a first team he is several years too young for. Nadi have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market23 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maleli Tuinakauvadra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nadi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match23 Apr 2029
Nadi refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match21 Apr 2029
Nobody wants to play Nadi right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match21 Apr 2029
Three points for Nadi, 4‑3 the final word against Labasa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match21 Apr 2029
Tuiba Batiratu among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Tuiba Batiratu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Nadi and Labasa.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nadi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 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 Nadi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Anare Verevou, 18, steals the show — 7.64
Marked 7.64 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match24 Jun 2028
Nobody wants to play Nadi right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match24 Jun 2028
Labasa made Nadi work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Nadi
Shaheel Valentine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Ninety minutes of Rocky Junior at his very best
Marked 8.49. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Nadi.
The dugout26 Jun 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
The name of Osea Nakaci has come up in conversations Nadi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Isikeli Begg on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.