Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Navua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Navua close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Simione Damuni has moved up it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Navua, another week without a signature from Zainal Ali.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zainal Ali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 136 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Navua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Navua scored in the 125th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Ali Mekawir takes the afternoon — 9.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Mekawir provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 The request is on a desk at Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deal with Nadroga is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Jovilisi Borisi 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.
150 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Navua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jovilisi Borisi 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.
Samuela Nabenia was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $4.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sakaraia Prasad has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Malakai Nawalu has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Isaac Raicama
Kolinio Sivoki 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.