Football South’s longest standing member of staff Mike Clark, the Futsal Competitions Manager, is leaving his role at Football South after eight years in his role. His final day in the office is Friday 6 December.  

He joined Football South back in 2008 as a member of the board for three years before moving into his role as Futsal Competitions Manager. 

During his time at the federation, Clark has made huge advancements in the futsal space. In his first year he increased the number of futsal teams in the area from 8 to 120 to 150 teams.  

Jumping ahead to this year, Clark currently has 1138 active teams playing futsal in 2019!  

“We have the biggest futsal club in the country, and if I calculated it correctly, since I started it all, we’ve had around 60,000 people participate in futsal,” Clark explained.  

“We have got people who have played the whole eight years we have been doing this. The key for the competitions that we have done is that they are short and sweet and everything is organise so all you have to do is show up and play and enjoy it!”  

Clark also spoke about one of his favourite moments, which is also one of his biggest achievements during his time in the role. He said: “One of the standout things for me during my time is the Futsal National League (Superleague). In the whole eight years of the league, Southern United have been in the top four at least.”  

“It’s been great being a part of the start of the league and seeing the Southern team continue to grow in it.” Clark added.  

Clark is moving out of the sport industry and into his role at a call centre for local company Laminex where he will oversee around 1000 customers with his aim to try and improve business for them across the South Island and Wellington areas.  

Clark had many people to thank for making his time at Football South so memorable. He said: “Thank you to all the referees, the schools, the organisers, the players, New Zealand Futsal for all the help and support. Also a huge thank you to my lovely wife Bev who has helped me so much over the years. It’s been a great futsal family!”  

On behalf of all the staff at Football South and also everyone in the football and futsal communities, we would like to say a huge thank you to Mike and all he has done for us and we wish him all the best. The Edgar Centre is going to miss you!  

Article added: Monday 02 December 2019