A FOOTBALL team have resigned from their league, three years after they were labelled as the worst football team in England.

Haywards Heath-based side St Francis Rangers were given the unwanted title in 2015 due to a terrible run of results.

But since that low point they had begun to turn their fortunes around and become more competitive.

In a statement released via the club’s social media account, a spokesman for St Francis Rangers said: “It’s a sad day for St Francis Rangers first team.

“We are hanging up our boots for good.

“Almost three years to the day we were dubbed “the worst football team in England”.

“We contemplated pulling out then, but we could not afford the fine.

“This time we have no option but to pull out.”

Many people took to social media to express their sadness at the team’s withdrawal.

Haywards Heath Town Football Club said: “This is really sad news and our best wishes go to our neighbours.

“It’s incredibly hard at all levels of non league football for a variety of reasons.

“It is extremely tough to not only get but keep volunteers to enable community clubs to run.”

St Francis Rangers said that they had endured a “rocky five years”.

The club also revealed that their manager, Jack Stephens, had chosen to resign prior to the decision being made.

They also said that they had struggled to attract players to the club, one of the main reasons because they were not able to pay their players, unlike other teams in the area.

The spokesman said: “The players we have travel from a distance and get no expenses.

“Therefore, training sessions never have more than five or six players in attendance, which makes it even more difficult.

“You cannot play a good standard of football without the squad training together regularly.

“Player commitment in general is not what it was.

“They don’t want to travel around the county to play and other commitments take priority over training and matches.”

They also thanked those involved with the club, and said: “We would like to thank our president David Richardson for his continued support, our past and present volunteers and our few loyal supporters and sponsors.

“Without these we would not have survived this long.

“This has not been an easy decision.

“We hoped we could see the season out, but it was not to be.”