Dave Lamont bleeds football.
Ask him how many meetings he has been to over the years for football and he shudders to think.
''All I'll say is my wife does not like football,'' he jokes.
Lamont (61) retired last month from the board of Southern United and with it puts an end to an administrative stint which started in 1974.
Lamont has worn nearly every hat there is in football, both locally and a national level.
He has even risen to membership of a Fifa committee.
It all started for Lamont when he joined the University Club and went on to the club's committee.
''I had played national league for Caversham the previous year but had to give it up. I lived in Opoho, they trained at Tonga Park, and I didn't have a car.''
Lamont, who continued to play football up until three years ago, held virtually every office at the University club as well as with the Otago Football Association.
He has been deputy chairman and chairman - twice - of New Zealand Football, on the Oceania Confederation committee and made it to the lofty heights of the Fifa legal matters committee.
''We only had one meeting. It took seven days. It was in Zurich and I had to go Dunedin-Zurich-Dunedin and I was delayed coming back,'' he said.
''We met for three hours and I did not say a thing. The only thing I can remember about it was talking about transsexual soccer. I got some funny looks from that.''
Lamont, a co-owner of the Cableways Tavern, was voted off the New Zealand board in 2000 after a Confederations Cup campaign and hosting the under-17 World Cup had combined to put New Zealand Football in the red.
''The whole board stood for re-election and only one guy got back on. I was not disappointed.
"A few years later I went back on the NZ Football board for a year but I could see the world had moved on so I should too. All the guys I knew had gone. I did not necessarily relate to the people that were there.''
Back in Dunedin he kept his hand in and was then asked by New Zealand Football to try to get a team from the south for the new national summer league.
''Tech [Dunedin Technical] and Cavvy [Caversham] wanted to run a team but there was a good chance if that continued they would not get a team. So with a bit of head-scratching, local clubs agreed to have a regional team and regional franchise.''
Otago United was born, and 10 years later Lamont admits it has been a struggle.
''I mean that in a financial sense and a lack of player depth which is exacerbated by the poor quality of our winter competition. That puts our national league players behind the 8-ball because they spend six months a year playing ... [rubbish] football.
''In the national league if you make a mistake you get shown up. But in the local league you can make 10 mistakes and get away with it. I've always been a firm believer in the best players should play the best players.''
Lamont is a staunch supporter of a South Island-wide league, which he argues would improve playing standards.
''But no-one wants to get in minivans anymore. Everyone wants to fly everywhere these days and it gets just too expensive. If you ask administrators who have to raise the money they are against it.
"Then if you ask the coaches and the players they are for it. Therefore you have to get administrators who are prepared to work for the good of the game.''
Lamont said he barely watched any winter league football any more such was the standard.
The former law firm partner said Otago United - or Southern United as it is now known - suffers from a lack of tradition, lack of player depth and a lack of support.
With every sporting organisation looking for money, Southern United was in effect competing with other football clubs for funders and taking a fair packet of it, which did not always go down well with other administrators, he said.
''There is a lack of ambition with a number of administrators. They are quite happy to run their club to win a couple of trophies, have a few beers ... and they consider they have achieved something.
''But the fact is we have not got enough depth. There is something wrong with our production line.''
He said clubs in Auckland had fulltime coaches and were on a whole different level.
''I know the chairman of Ellerslie and that club has 27 senior teams and over 100 junior teams and they're not even in the first division up there.
''Here we treat football as a six-month-a-year exercise. But if you want to be any good then you've got to play and be coached 12 months a year. You need good coaching in a good competition.''
Asked what tips he would give to a person entering sports administration his first advice was - don't.
''But you've got to listen to what people say, see what other sports are doing, see what is happening in other parts of New Zealand in your sport, make decisions and realise that members will disagree. But you have to do what is best for your sport.''
Lamont may give a guiding hand to the running of the under-20 World Cup matches in Dunedin next year but for now it was time to do something else.
''I'll miss the people. There is no doubt about that. I've had some huge arguments over the years. I've never felt like walking away. But I suppose I have suffered from having a big mouth.''
