THE weather wwas so hot at Malmesbury Youth FC's six a side tournament the organisers ran out of ice cream four times.

But they still raised more than £3,500 for club funds at the weekend after hosting more than 1,000 teams.

The event, held on pitches behind the Red Bull pub, attracted teams from as far afield as Plymouth, South Wales and Gien, Malmesbury's twin town in the Loire Valley, France.

Hundreds of local teams also entered the tournament for players between the ages of eight and 15, but saw the major honours leave the county in all but one age group category.

Shaw and Whitley were Wiltshire's only winners, their success coming against Eastville Boys A in the U12 final, while Highworth Colts were beaten by Cheltenham YMCA A in the final of the U9s competition.

Soaring temperatures ensured the refreshment stands each made a healthy profit.

The event has now been running for three years and Phil Rice, who organised the festival along with Paul Robinson, felt it had been the most successful yet.

He said: "The weather was fantastic, which always helps, and the football was great. It was so hot we ran out of ice cream four times, but always managed to find more. Temperatures were so high on Sunday that we had to give the orange squash away for free because we were worried about the players getting too hot.

"Last year, we had traffic jams three-quarters of a mile long to get into the car park, but we were better organised this year and that didn't happen.

"We have had lots of positive feedback from people already and we were absolutely delighted."

The club stepped up their marketing campaign this year and were rewarded with a bumper turnout. A total of 12 teams made the trip from South Wales, with Newport side Griffithstown taking the honours in the U14 category.

AS Gien, the team who made the longest journey of all, were involved in the best match of the tournament when they drew 4-4 with the host club on Sunday in the U10s competition.

The French side went out on penalties in the quarter-finals, but returned across the Channel with some silverware as one of their players was awarded the player of the tournament award.

Rice felt AS Gien's involvement had made the U10s the most entertaining of the seven age group categories. He said: "It was nice to see Gien make the trip and we would like to thank the young footballers and supporters who came and took part. One of their players was the U10s player of the tournament and they did so well before being knocked out on penalties."

Rice added: "A lot of people did a lot of hard work to make sure the tournament went according to plan. We had two organisers and around 30 volunteers and I would like to thank them all for their help."