Nun-dressed party 'was not drunk'

The football club goes on tour every year when the season ends

The chairman of a Bristol football club party whose members were arrested while holidaying in Crete dressed as nuns has denied any of the men were drunk.

Micky Underhill, 59, chairman of Hanham Athletic, said: "We were only on our second drink. We were not drunk. We feel we've been majorly hard done by."

The group of 17 men was arrested in a bar in Malia on Saturday night.

They appeared in court on Monday where the charges were dropped after no one showed up to testify against them.

"We go on tour straight after the football season and there's always a fancy dress theme and this year was sexy nuns," said Mr Underhill.

"We go out there to laugh at ourselves and have other people laugh at us. We're not going out there to shock," he said.

"There's no way whatsoever we were flashing. We were just enjoying an end-of-season tour."

The group was marched in handcuffs to a courtroom in the Crete capital of Heraklion still dressed in the fancy dress costumes after spending two nights in prison.

"The prison facilities were horrendous. We had to buy food if we wanted to eat," said Mr Underhill.

"Fortunately we were eventually put in touch with the British embassy, who were brilliant. The hotel staff and Thomas Cook, the tour operators, were great as well," he added.

The holiday was the latest annual tour Mr Underhill has been on with the Sunday league side.

"The age ranges from 62 down to 18 so you've got a couple of old heads in there who keep everything under control, myself included. I'm chairman of Hanham Athletic and I've got a bit of pride in that.

"I've been on 24 tours and this is the first time anything like this has happened," said Mr Underhill.

The group is due to fly back into Bristol International Airport on Wednesday.