Marked for Mohammed Alam
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Lautoka out of the cup
Nadroga ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Lautoka say no — this time
The offer from Southern United for Atonio Tuivuna 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.6K — a club that wants Aporosa Yada enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Labasa wanted more than $44.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Savenaca Nakalevu has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lautoka have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Lautoka
Mohammed Alam 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Aporosa Yada has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lautoka have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Leisari Qalica may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tevita Begg 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 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Beniamino Bari 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Beniamino Kaumaitotoya 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 Aug 2026
One of our own: Roy Cama joins the Lautoka first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roy Cama is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Lautoka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Anand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sairusi Nalaubu and Lautoka agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mohammed Alam 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Lautoka are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
Leisari Qalica is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lautoka has been clear about where Leisari Qalica stands, which is more than many ever get.