Players at today's Football South matches at Tahuna Park will wear black armbands to mark the death on Thursday of Ron Little, a stalwart of the Northern club.
The Little family has been a strong presence in Otago football for many years. Brothers George, Philip, John, David and Ron were all involved at playing level and in the game's administration.
It will be a huge day, with two batches of kick-offs (10am and 5pm) to determine the winner of the pre-season tournament. The idea is to give players a run and clubs a chance to try out new recruits and different com-binations in preparation for the Southern Premier League, which starts next weekend.
New University coach Alan Bain, of all the SPL coaches, will appreciate the chance to sort out his squad, after a group of more than 40 players turned up for trials.
Bain has no illusions regarding the difficulty of his task.
"After last year's disappointing season on the field we hope to achieve some stability," he said. "Our main aims are to finish in a higher league position than last season, win our first Chatham Cup game against Queens Park and establish the nucleus of a team on which to build for the future."
Players lost by University from last year include Michael Sannum (Brazil futsal), James Vaughan, Sam Green (Roslyn Wakari), Jezreel Jones (Northern), Steve Sharp (Melville AFC) and David Henderson (Maycenvale AFC).
Bain has a handy bunch of replacements in the talented Dunedin Technical pair of goalkeeper Nick Tarrant and striker John Lang, Todd Wallenius, Bo Wilkins (USA), Kelechi Osunwa, Zac Rathbone and Tom Macfarlane.
Tarrant is an important signing since top keepers are a vanishing breed in Dunedin, and it could get worse if Green Island's Callum Flaws soon heads away to Europe.
The dwindling keeper situation also highlights the lack of qualified goalkeeping coaches in Football South's catchment area. The youngsters coming through will need all the help they can get.
Undefeated Roslyn plays University at noon, and Green Island plays Northern at the same time. The early 10am matches might attract more yawns than spectators, but Caversham will be alert and ready for Mosgiel, and Dunedin Technical will roll out its big guns against Grants Brae.
