Family affair at Golden Oldies World Festival in Queenstown

Next week’s Air New Zealand Golden Oldies World Netball Festival in Queenstown will definitely be a family affair.

Approximately 500 participants from five nations will take part in the weeklong festival which begins this Sunday (1 November) with several teams sporting strong family links.

None more so than the Cappie Team, with their foundation built on the Cappie family who are formerly all from Nightcaps Netball Club in Southland. The team, now spread throughout the lower South Island, includes six sisters, their sister-in-law, a cousin and a daughter.

The Cappie family aren’t the only ones with strong family involvement. There’s a mum and her four daughters participating with Waiuku Thrillseekers from the Franklin district and the Super Moms from Vanuatu include four sisters and their auntie in their line-up.

“Families are a huge part of the netball communities. Golden Oldies provide an outlet to continue to do fun things together and play the game that they love,” said Air New Zealand Events Manager, Keith Robinson, head of the organising team.

“Golden Oldies give them the outlet to continue to play together, to travel to great destinations, catch up with old friends, meet new ones and have a lot of fun.”

The Golden Oldies concept began with rugby in New Zealand in 1979 and also involves netball, hockey and cricket, which came to Queenstown last year.

There are 48 teams from Australia, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Barbados and New Zealand participating in Queenstown. The official opening ceremony is on Sunday with game days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Queenstown Events Centre. There is a raft of social events like the Melbourne Cup Day, Quiz Night, Cocktail Evening and Gala Dinner.

It’s only the third time in 26 years that the Festival has come to New Zealand, returning to its birth place for the first time since Christchurch in 1990. The biennial netball world festivals have been held in Auckland, Vancouver, Brisbane (twice), Christchurch, Rarotonga (twice), Singapore, Fiji, Adelaide, Hawaii and Perth.

ENDS

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