Marked for Christopher Naranayanan
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Feb 2029
Anger at Suva spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Ramzan Khan breaks a bone — 32 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Feb 2029
Suva sink to position 9
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Jan 2029
Ramzan Khan breaks a bone — 53 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Jan 2029
Only the photograph left for Jason Dau
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Dau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Suva
Ramzan Khan 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
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
Ramzan Khan breaks a bone — 109 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Nov 2028
Jason Dau has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Suva they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Suva
Ramzan Khan 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
Crisis
The terraces20 Nov 2028
Anger at Suva spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match20 Nov 2028
Suva sink to position 9
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market20 Nov 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 Suva, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Oct 2028
Remueru Tekiate damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Suva
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
The numbers do not look good at Suva
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ilaisa Naranayanan has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market4 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ramzan Khan 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neerav Goundar 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salesitino Caucau trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Jason Dau 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
Crisis
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ilaisa Naranayanan has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Ramzan Khan 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Josua Raqamu commits to Suva for another 2 years.
Market7 Aug 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Peniasi Rotidara has his answer from Suva; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jun 2028
The wait goes on for Suva
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Suva boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match24 Jun 2028
Suva taken apart
0‑3 to Rewa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match24 Jun 2028
Suva cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad26 Jun 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Suva counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Suva now.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ramzan Khan 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sakaraia Naisua, and the manager let it.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Inquest at Suva
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jun 2028
No end in sight to Suva's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Suva has to find a result from somewhere.
Market12 Jun 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 Suva can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Jason Dau
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Dau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Ramzan Khan 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neerav Goundar 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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
A mark of 7.37, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tevita Singh 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Edward Justin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Suva.
Match10 Jun 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Lautoka defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Apr 2028
A hiding for Suva
Beaten 0‑5 by Rewa, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market24 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramzan Khan 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.
Squad24 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
34 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Nobody left the Suva dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Apr 2028
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Suva scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market17 Apr 2028
Jason Dau has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Suva they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Ramzan Khan 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tevita Singh. 2‑1 against Tailevu Naitasiri, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitieli Naiviro 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.
Squad17 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces10 Apr 2028
The mood at Suva has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match5 Apr 2028
Cup progress for Suva
A 3‑2 win over Nadroga, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match5 Apr 2028
Suva win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 122th minute. Nadroga will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match10 Apr 2028
Suva sink to position 9
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 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 Suva, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Marlon Sorovi, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42
A mark of 8.42 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad10 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Suva counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Suva now.
Match1 Apr 2028
A bad afternoon for Suva against Navua
1‑3 to Navua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ramzan Khan 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mitieli Naiviro has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Suva.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Mar 2028
Dave Mocenica 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 Suva can pretend not to have heard.
Market27 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Suva
Akuila Mateisuva 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 ratings27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramzan Khan 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.
Squad27 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Rusiate Kaumaitotoya, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market20 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Ramzan Khan 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Mar 2028
Suva come up short against Nadroga
Nadroga left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Mar 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neerav Goundar 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Suva, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Off the bench and decisive: Revans Reddy
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Suva were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Mar 2028
Chastening afternoon for Suva
A 0‑3 beating by Nadi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad6 Mar 2028
There were 8 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Suva's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Suva has to find a result from somewhere.
Market6 Mar 2028
Rishal Shankar has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Suva they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match4 Mar 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Suva
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Suva counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Suva now.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Ramzan Khan 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 ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Suva board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
Remueru Tekiate damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Jason Dau
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Dau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Feb 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 Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Feb 2028
The mood at Suva has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Suva
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Remueru Tekiate damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Match14 Feb 2028
Suva are in real trouble now
Position 8, 17 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Suva
Akuila Mateisuva 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramzan Khan 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dave Mocenica commits to Suva for another 3 years.
Market14 Feb 2028
Suva spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.