Windy football called early

The Wanganui Athletic Football Club's 2016 Open Junior Tournament had to be called off a couple of hours early in the high winds and cold rain at Wembley Park on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier in the morning, players were still gutting out the icy conditions, trying to keep their kicks along the ground so the wind would not carry them away, but repeated cloud bursts made the situation too wet to continue.

"The wind chill became a real concern," said spokesman Cliff Hughes.

"A 1pm the temperature began to drop quickly so, in the interest of player welfare, it was decided not to continue.

"This meant some teams didn't get to play some of their playoff games."

Athletic officials were still working through the results of the competed games last night to try and determine the winners of two of the four divisions.

Hughes said the Under 13's grade could be decided by playing an away game between two sides from outside of Whanganui.

The Under 9's division was confirmed, with the Western Suburbs Warriors from Wellington having the best day, with Tawa second and Western Suburbs Gladiators third.

The Wanganui East Strikers were competitive in the grade, with two wins and a draw from their three games played.

In the Under 16's grade, held for the first time this year, WAFC Royals were the winners, followed by WAFC Youth and the Wanganui High School Saints.

Winners of the Under 11-13 grades should be available on Wednesday.