Unless you played in the Festival's friendly Under-16s tournament — seven teams, six games each, and none who had their eyes opened more than Cornish Pixies, from Truro.

"We travelled seven hours to get here and the atmosphere is lovely" (Ben Andrews, 15); "It's a very sporting tournament" (Cuthbert Shepherd, 11); "Its well funny and everybody's well cool" (Zoe Ainsworth, 15); "This is our first festival outside our county and after this we're now going to start our own" (Luke Shepherd, 14); "We can't fault it. The organisers have been brilliant, absolutely fantastic — we brought some Cornish Cider to thank them — and the Chatsworth Hotel have bent over backwards to help us" (mum, Angela Shepherd).

The Pixies, new to Astro in Cornwall, found the Festival grass a leveller. Their record was good but Horsham's, then secondly Worthing's, were better. Penguin had two teams. The festival Juniors side were chosen for the Fair Play Trophy and awarded it at the junior barbecue.

The weather was dry and warm, cloudy on Sunday, no one froze, no one got sunstroke. Attendance was down this year but a resurgence in other festivals around the country is counter- attracting. Co-organiser Katie Wingfield accepted: "People like to try somewhere different."

There were 51 teams "in action" during the Bank Holiday weekend on the seven Palatine Park pitches (accompanied by bands Hundred Hand Slap, then Magic Taxi), and two Worthing Leisure Centre, and at a fancy dress disco at the Assembly Hall, on Saturday evening, then at The Pier nightclub on Sunday. Costumes are played in on Saturday, ahead of the disco, but routinely too dishevelled to be useful come Sunday, although the Isle of Wight Dynamite's Crusaders' cloaks survived the excesses and Jon Clucas' Morris Dancer's uniform with Assyum Scrumpy Bumpkins.

A sense of humour is a pre-requisite. And stamina. And after that comes the night . . .

Trouble through alcohol? It does not happen. It is not the objective. If, in a bar, a participant needs to be asked to remove their feet from a chair, compliance is unhesitating. Penguin president Heidi Easey asked: "Where else could 1,000 people of all generations gather for three days' non-stop drinking and not a punch be thrown?"
Littlehampton HC and Southwick HC were there. Teams from Leicestershire, Lancashire, Oxfordshire, and the Roosters, for a third year, from Barbados.

Worthing, in between rounds of the EH Mixed Plate, were in disguises, including as the New Forest Bunnies, featuring Dangerous David Beales, and Mungo Jamie Luke, and the Jack Daniel's Appreciation Society, who were performing in Butlin's Redcoats.

Midfielder Toni Catlow was seen rockin' it, playing air guitar on a tennis racket, on stage, with Magic Taxi. Born entertainers, some of them.

The Festival Village at Palatine includes the tented shop, The Stick Club, run by Bob Moxom, 53, a player until his recent hip replacement, who has been coming to Penguin Festival since before his trading days. He is part of Pink Panthers (leftover kit in that colour + panther on the logo = team name = prolonged festival tourists).

He vowed: "This has always been a good festival. I've only missed one year in the last 33. Quality people and run by a lovely club. We work well, we party well, we play well."

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