Thursday 11th February, 2010
Former KOSSA striker and Bilikiki star, James Naka, is heading to Fiji to join Rewa Football Club. According to James Naka he is in the process of signing with Rewa for the whole season and could be in Fiji until the end of the year.

Rewa had enquired early in the year about signing some players from Solomon Islands. James Naka was at the top of their Solomon Islands shopping list. Rewa also expressed interest in George Lui, Alick Maemae and Jack Wetney.

The Rewa Team Manager, Nilesh Chetty, said that they aim to go higher in this season so they decided to recruit the talent from the Solomons to do the job. ‘Players from Solomon Islands are very skillful in the mind and that is why we want them in our club,’ Chetty said.

Naka has played in Fiji in the past but this is the first time for him to sign a long term contract. In the past he goes over for the championship matches which are only a few days long. He is considered to be one of the best strikers Solomon Islands has ever produced. In 2008, he partnered with Joe Luwi for KOSSA to dismantle the Waitakere defence in Honiara for the historic 3 - 1 in the O-League.

It is unclear whether Lui will join Naka at Rewa considering that he has signed up with Marist for the O-League. Unconfirmed reports say that Lui may be joining Naka after Marist’s game with Lautoka this weekend.

Meanwhile Rewa have run out of luck with recruiting the other players in their shopping list. Alick Maemae is already in Papua New Guinea where he joins other Solomon Islanders to play for Hekari United. Jack Wetney is heading to Australia to play for the New South Wales Thunders.

Naka will play his first game for Rewa on the 27th of February, 2010.

By moving to Fiji Naka joins an increasing number of Solomon Islands players who have gone overseas to ply their trade. A total of 14 players have been issued transfers to Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in January and February alone.

James Naka after returning from Tahiti after the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifiers in 2009