From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Joji Vuakaca is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Joji Vuakaca: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match26 Aug 2026
Labasa through in the cup
A 0‑0 win over Suva, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Labasa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 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 Labasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 Labasa players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Labasa 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Simione Kumar after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
14 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Labasa
A 1‑0 win over Navua, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sitiveni Rakai 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Labasa
Simione Ragoneturaga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Labasa had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Labasa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Aporosa Yada has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sitiveni Rakai 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Labasa
Simione Ragoneturaga 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Wasasala signs something — a contract at Labasa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Luke Savu may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
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 Labasa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Isikeli Hughes 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. Aporosa Krishna 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: Anare Nawalu joins the Labasa first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anare Nawalu is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Netani Suluka
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Labasa would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Jitoko Vulava knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jitoko Vulava trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sitiveni Rakai and Labasa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Labasa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sitiveni Rakai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Labasa
Ashnil Raju 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Labasa 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
Luke Savu is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Labasa has been clear about where Luke Savu stands, which is more than many ever get.