Marked for Simione Jale
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jun 2029
“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 ratings25 Jun 2029
No sign of nerves from Laisenia Tuyaga at 17 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Laisenia Tuyaga did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Navua
Simione Jale 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 ratings25 Jun 2029
A masterclass from Jack Wale
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simione Mocenica and Navua agree another 3 years.
Match23 Jun 2029
It needed Jack Wale to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Tailevu Naitasiri, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout25 Jun 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.
Boardroom25 Jun 2029
Nobody arrives at Navua 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 Navua this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
In brief
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The dugout
Half-satisfied: Viliame Begg on the draw
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Looking ahead
Navua take on the side everybody is chasing
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The dugout
Isikeli Nakaci has become a man the manager trusts
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Jul 2028
Navua are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 34 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market31 Jul 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Christopher Cama: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Navua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ba is saying, and nobody at Navua is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Navua asked and Rewa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Navua
Vinal Prasad 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Navua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
The numbers do not look good at Navua
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Navua
Vinal Prasad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Tailevu Naitasiri have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
When it matters, Jack Wale plays
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A Navua teenager takes the young player award
Ratu Kaumaitotoya is 15, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Ledua, and the manager let it.
Market10 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kolinio Sivoki signs something — a contract at Navua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simione Mocenica trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jan 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Navua people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match10 Jan 2028
Navua refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 29 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Navua
Jovilisi Borisi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: Nasinu have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Simione Mocenica. The answer from Navua has not changed — yet.
Market10 Jan 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simione Jale has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Jan 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kolinio Nakaci has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.