Southern United chairman Aaron Joy confirmed yesterday the club had received about $110,000 after Auckland City finished third at the Club World Cup.
The Auckland club won $NZ3.27 million at the tournament late last year and it has been given to various parties, including Auckland club players, New Zealand Football and clubs in the premiership.
Southern United was one of those clubs and enjoyed the hand-out from the success of the Auckland side in Morocco.
Joy said the money was very much appreciated and would go on various running costs to keep the club going.
There was no plan to spend up large, as funding from other sources had dried up considerably in the past year.
''To be honest, if we had not got this money the you'd be seeing the same article about us that have been written about the likes of Basketball Otago,'' Joy said.
Basketball Otago was battling to avoid liquidation with debts of just under $180,000 and was forced to withdraw its marquee team the Nuggets from the national league.
Joy said semiprofessional sport was at the crossroads with regards to funding.
''Last year our funding from trust money was way down. We received something in the vicinity of $55,000 from trusts, yet the years before that we were looking at significantly more from the trusts.''
He said trust funding in previous years was at least $100,000.
''There needs to be a good look at the way semiprofessional sport is run in this country. It does not seem to be sustainable as it is at the present.''
Southern United was run on a very tight budget last year, of $180,000, but really needed $200,000-plus to be competitive.
It was never going to be on a level playing field with the likes of Auckland City, which had income at least 10 times that of Southern United, Joy said.
Southern United had one more year for its licence in national league and Joy said every other club was in the same boat.
He said New Zealand Football was looking at a full review of the league in 2016, after next season.
There had been no indication of what New Zealand Football wanted from the league but Joy felt the national body was keen for it to grow.
There were other parts of the country which wanted to get a side in the national league.
Southern United had made a promising start to last season but had fallen away to finish last on the table.
Coach Mike Fridge had a two-year contract and would be the coach next year. He had not been employed in any other role for the club.
Southern United did not have the resources of other clubs, Joy said, and that often hurt when players picked up injuries.
''I'm pretty proud that 99% of the team is local and we would be the only team which had that amount of local talent in it.''
