MORE than 20,000 players, families and spectators turned up to enjoy the Bournemouth Sevens rugby and netball festival.

Revellers turned up in fancy dress to enjoy the matches and the mix of entertainment with live music, children’s inflatable slides, DJs, a massive drinks tent and lots of food stalls.

Organisers branded the fifth year of the event a huge success with the weekend tickets sold out and 3,000 campers staying at the festival at the Chapel Gate sports ground next to Bournemouth Airport.

Matt Heasman, 39, visited with family and friends from Muscliffe and said the BMX riding performances were popular with their children.

Matt said: “I’ve come for four of the five years.

“It’s just a great place to come and meet with friends and bring the kids up here.

“In the day it’s great for children.”

His friend Chris Locke, 38, also from Muscliffe, loved the different standards of rugby.

He said: “There’s plenty of diversity of games so I can watch some people who I work with and then watch Bath play.”

The two-day event had a fancy dress theme for Saturday and Sunday with costumes including a dinosaur, a duck, penguin, a man in a skimpy one-piece swimsuit and other men in women’s clothes.

Andrew Johnson, from Blandford, was dressed in a Papa Smurf outfit to celebrate his 40th birthday party.

“It’s good because there’s plenty going on,” he said.

The food stalls included paella, fish and chips and curries and among the drinks outlets were a wine bar and a Jagermeister bar, selling the popular German spirit.

Roger Woodall, festival director, said the event is “putting Bournemouth on the map” and bringing more than £1.5m into the local economy.

“It’s just gone through the roof,” he said.

“It’s gone into the social calendar here and we have teams from Dubai and South Africa.”