Age no barrier for netballers in Golden Oldies World Festival in Queenstown

Keen netballers from around the world are proving age is no barrier as they line up next week for the Air New Zealand Golden Oldies World Netball Festival in Queenstown.

Approximately 500 participants from five nations will take part in the weeklong festival from 1-November. This includes 10 players who are 70 years or older to participate at the Queenstown Events Centre.

The oldest listed player is Marigold Hadfield from the West Auckland’s Ex Airwomen Sports Club at 76 years, closely followed by Margaret McDonald (Cappies Team, Mosgiel) and Shirley Sutcliffe (Owairoa Golden Oldies, Auckland), both 75 years.

“The Golden Oldies brand has been around for three decades with our biennial world festivals around the globe,” said Air New Zealand Events Manager, Keith Robinson. “One of our goals is to keep people involved and active in the sports that they love.

“So to have 10 netballers coming to Queenstown still playing the game at 70 years young is great. They love to play the game, they love to travel, have fun with their friends and to meet new ones from around the world.”

There will be plenty of on and off-court action throughout the week. Game days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Queenstown Events Centre and a raft of social events like the Melbourne Cup Day, Quiz Night, Cocktail Evening and Gala Dinner will held around town.

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.

It’s just the third time in 26 years that the World Netball 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.