OUR BOARD

CHAIRPERSON

Graham Marshall

Graham Marshall is presently the Trade Services Business Manager within Property Services at the University of Otago. He is married to Bronwyn and has three children, Olivia, Annabel, and Harrison, all of whom have played football and futsal throughout the years. Olivia represented Oceania in a Futsal tournament in Brazil during 2012 and played representative football. Annabel played 1st Eleven football at OGHS, and Harrison has played representative age group football and is a current member of the Southern United Academy. He was appointed to the Football South Board in June 2017, was elected Deputy Chair during 2018 and Chair after the 2019 AGM. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and is a current member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.

Graham has had a 40-year association with football in the Federation, first starting out as a junior at Green Island Football Club, then playing for Dunedin City in the National league during the 1980s. While at Dunedin City the opportunity for a 4-month scholarship to Crystal Palace Football Club was taken under the watch full eye of Steve Coppell, the former England International. During his career, Graham has represented New Zealand at U16 level, U20 level and as a full All White during the years 1994 – 1998. Along with his playing career, Graham has also taken time to coach girls and women’s teams, community teams, boys’ teams, and the Southern United Youth team and holds a Senior level 2 coaching badge. 

Outside of football Graham enjoys enjoy travelling, fishing, music and taking his dogs to one of the many outstanding beaches in and around Dunedin.

BOARD MEMBERS

Stephen Richards
Board Member

Stephen Richards is the National Technical Director – Tax Advisory for Australasian financial advisory and accounting services firm Findex. He was appointed to the Football South Board in May 2019. Stephen has played football since primary school. He is currently a member of Roslyn Wakari AFC and plays for the Roslyn Wakari Moas in the Masters 45+ league. Stephen is a member of the Columba College Board of Trustees and has previous governance experience with other education sector organisations.

Tania Cassidy
Board Member

Associate Professor Tania Cassidy is the Associate Dean of External Engagement at the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago. Her area of teaching and research interest is sports coaching, specifically coach and athlete development. She is the first author of two co-authored texts: 1) Understanding Sports Coaching: The Pedagogical, Social, and Cultural Foundations of Sports Practice, and 2) Understanding Strength and Conditioning as Sports Coaching: Bridging the Biophysical, Pedagogical, Sociocultural Foundations of Practice.

Tania has extensive local, national and international networks, which include being a member of Hockey New Zealand’s Masters advisory group and New Zealand Football’s women’s sub-committee; on the boards of Otago Academy of Sport and Otago Hockey, is the President of the Opoho Bowling Club, is the co-coordinator of the biennial Connecting Coaches conference; and has experience in developing bespoke coach development programmes for the Chinese Culture University (Taiwan), the Otago Rugby Union, and pre-Covid was a Visiting Professor at the University College Cork, Ireland. 

When Tania is not involved in the above, she plays field hockey locally and at the representative level. Tania is also learning to swim competitively, and enjoys DIY around the house.

Rachel Minton 
Board Member

Rachel Minton-Smith serves as the Community Capability Manager at Hockey New Zealand in her day job. She became a member of the Board in July 2022, driven by her profound passion for the role sports can play in enhancing the health and well-being of New Zealanders, as well as her commitment to ensuring that the composition of sports participants reflects the diversity of local communities. Rachel holds a particular interest in the inclusion and diversity space. Given her role as a capability manager, she prioritizes the development of people, processes, and systems within the sports community. Rachel also finds great enjoyment in the field of governance and was excited about the opportunity to contribute to the Southern Football community.

When it comes to her favorite football memories, Rachel finds it challenging to select just one. Some of the standout moments in her memory include Ross County's promotion to the Scottish Premiership in 2018/19 after securing victory in the Scottish Championship, the memorable Scotland vs. England clash in the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying play-offs (even though Scotland didn't ultimately qualify, she cherishes the win), and Liverpool's triumphant victory in the 2001 UEFA Cup Final.

In terms of her current involvement with football, aside from occasionally indulging in summer social kickabouts where she self-reflects on her skills, wishing she were as proficient as she was in high school, Rachel has a toddler who enjoys kicking a ball around in the paddocks. Her husband eagerly anticipates becoming their child's football coach when the youngster is a bit older. Rachel is looking forward to deepening her engagement with the Southern football community and becoming more involved as opportunities arise.


Neil MacKenzie
Board Member

Neil has had forty years in the NZ Secondary School system as a teacher of predominately Physical Education to Students aged 10 to 17 Years. He is currently Assistant Sport Coordinator at Kaikorai College.

He has spent approximately ten years as a professional and Semi Professional Football Coach between 1980 – 1994 in NZ and the United Kingdom. Plus 40 plus years football coaching spanning Youth International, National League, Regional League, Coach Education and Club Administration.

He also holds a Masters Degree in Sport Coaching and Sport Administration, a Bachelor of Arts, Diploma in Secondary Teaching. Level 3 coaching qualifications from Oceania Football and NZ Football and a Level 2 Coaching Qualification from the NZ Coaches Association.

Amanda Dyer 
Board Member