Caversham, the league champion, is threatening to withdraw from the South Island Championship over what it claims is an "ultimatum" from Footballsouth.
But the governing body says it is simply eager to avoid an embarrassing no-show in the South Island final, which is scheduled for September 19 - a date that does not suit Caversham.
The cross-border competition involves semifinals on September 5, with both Caversham and Dunedin Technical playing Mainland Football (Canterbury) opposition.
If both Dunedin sides win, the final will be played at the Caledonian Ground on September 12.
But if only one Dunedin team wins, the final will be played in Christchurch a week later, which is fine for Technical, but not for Caversham.
"We were asked months ago what dates would suit us, and we told Footballsouth any date but the 19th would be OK," Caversham coach Steve Fleming said.
"That is the night of our club prizegiving and annual social, which will be attended by people from all over the country."
Fleming said he was told Caversham would have to forfeit its semifinal if it was not willing to play in the final on September 19.
"My feeling is that we should not be forced to play on that date, since we gave months of notice that it was not suitable. But it will be a club decision," Fleming said.
"I don't want to get to a stage where Caversham wins on the 5th and can't play in the final on the 19th," Chisholm said.
"We're trying to avoid the worst-case scenario. But it's unacceptable to go into a semifinal worried a team might pull out of the final.
"If Caversham don't intend to be available for the final, they should actually withdraw now."
Chisholm said Footballsouth had hoped to reach a compromise with Caversham by offering to fly the club to Christchurch and back if it made the final.
That would allow the premier team to make the club's function by about 8pm, Chisholm said.
Footballsouth would also fly Dunedin Technical to Christchurch if it made the final against a Mainland side.
Chisholm conceded end-of-season scheduling was "messy".
Christchurch clubs could not play the South Island final on September 12, and the semifinals had been delayed until September 5 to allow for the possibility of Caversham or Technical making the Chatham Cup semifinals on August 29.
"I don't know what Caversham were going to do if they'd made the Chatham Cup final on the 19th," Chisholm said.
"We're trying to be reasonable here. But i0t's not a great look for the game when your top team wants to dictate when and where they are going to play.
"Who's running the game, them or us?"
Chisholm said Caversham had already caused difficulties by withdrawing from the final of a pre-season tournament because half its players were unavailable.
But Fleming maintained Caversham had given plenty of notice of its preference for a South Island Championship date.
"This ultimatum is the last step in a fixture list which has continually changed but has now settled on the one date we specifically requested should be left free," Fleming said.
Chisholm said he hoped a resolution to the dispute could be found by Monday.
Having chosen not to enter Football south's end-of-season tournament, Caversham now faces a two-week gap without games, until its South Island semifinal against Western or Burnside on September 5.
Senior matches today in Dunedin feature University and Roslyn-Wakari at the Caledonian Ground, Dunedin Technical and Northern at Culling Park, and Grants Braes and Mosgiel at Ocean Grove.
