Malcolm Barnes was made the first life member of Otago United at the club's annual meeting at the Caledonian this week.
Since he was goalkeeper for St Kilda in the 1965 Chatham Cup final, Barnes has been an ever-present worker for the Otago Football Association, then Soccer Otago and, in its five years of the national league, Otago United.
Barnes epitomises the old guard, a man who was as happy helping to move goalposts as he was to do administrative duties, and he intimated that he would continue to be involved in the game he loves.
There were initially only three Footballsouth clubs - Roslyn-Wakari, Dunedin Technical and Northern - at the annual meeting.
Mosgiel and Green Island arrived later due to a misunderstanding over the time of the meeting, but United chairman Dave Lamont stressed the need for club-based support if a presence in the national league was to be maintained.
Lamont pointed out the pressure that United was under since financial grants from trusts were diminishing.
"More applicants are applying for finance from diminishing sources, which makes things difficult for United," he said.
Work commitments have caused Aaron Joy's resignation from Footballsouth, which United's management board accepted with regret.
To some extent, the taking over of United's national youth league side by Footballsouth should help balance the books. The youth coaches for this year will be Richard Murray and Alan Laidler.
United coach Malcolm Fleming reported that his squad had started training with an eye on the first match against Waikato in Dunedin on November 7.
A final squad will be named later this week, but Fleming's draft training squad includes Adam Highfield, Callum Flaws, Cam Burns, Tristan Prattley, Hayden Gunn, Tim Horner, Paul Seaman, Tom Sadd, Tom Connor, Andy Coburn, Morgan Day, Nathan Knox, Harley Rodeka, Matt Thomas, James Reichwein, Ben Light, Anthony Hancock, Alistair Rickerby, Phil Ruggles and Tim Dunn.
The five required youth players for United are Liam Lockhart, Matt Brook, James Watson, Curtis Day and Sam Mepham, although all national youth league players will be considered over the season.
Waitakere and Auckland have made a flying start to this year's national league, rechristened the ASB Premiership, with wins last week over Waikato and Wellington.
Meanwhile, Lamont has suggested a "think tank" could be formed from ordinary Otago supporters.
"We need support and new ideas to keep United fresh, and possibly a less formal group could be mustered to broaden the input from grass roots level. We will try to implement such a group in the near future."
