More than 1000 children packed into Millers Flat on Saturday for the Millers Flat seven a side rugby and netball tournament.
More than 60 rugby teams and 24 netball teams from all over Otago turned up to the event, organised by Millers Flat Primary School. Taieri and Waikaka teams attended the event for the first time.
Parent Belinda Duff, of Mosgiel, said the U11 Taieri team went to Millers Flat because the side had a bye at home and the coach thought it would be a good idea for them to play different teams, she said. Volunteer John McKinnel said the tournament might be almost 100 years old.
The first event was recorded in newspapers as 1917. He was not sure if it had run continuously for all that time, but it had for at least 70 years.
Volunteer and former Millers Flat principal Kim Blackwood said it was one of the school's biggest fundraising events of the year.
Everyone in the community got involved and volunteered on the day, even those not connected to the school, she said.
Organiser Trudy McKinnel said the money would go towards funding ''teacher aides'' to help new pupils or ''transient children''. Children who changed schools often lost the equivalent of four months of schooling, she said.
Results
Rugby Winners: U7, Wakatipu; U8, Clutha White; U9, Clutha; U10, Cromwell; U11, Taieri; U12, Clutha; Open, Lawrence. Runners up: U8, Alex White; U9, Heriot/Tapanui; U10, Toko; U11, Roxburgh; U12, Clyde/Earnscleugh; Open, Heriot/Tapanui.
Netball: Senior, Mt Aspiring 8 (MAC 8); runners up, Teviot Turbos. Intermediate, Terrace Aqua; runners up, Hawea 6.
