THE Dorchester Town football club manager and three players have been barred from 14 pubs in the town.

They have been ordered to stay away by the town’s Pubwatch landlords following a “fight” on the night of their Christmas bash.

Team boss Ashley Vickers, 39, star striker Ryan Moss, 24, and teammates Gary Bowles, 22, and Jamie Frampton, 19, have had their names and pictures added to the scheme’s banned list for a year.

The news comes in the same week that the club’s 20-year-old striker Rico Wilson was jailed for seven months for drugs offences.

The police were called to a fight at the Royal Oak Wetherspoons pub in High West Street on December 18 and five people were arrested. They did not say who was arrested and nobody was charged with any offences.

But landlords met up at their monthly Pubwatch meeting and voted to ban the four footballers.

Mr Vickers said he was acting as a peacemaker during a “total misunderstanding” with a group of other men at the team’s Christmas party. He said: “It was a storm in a teacup and merely Christmas high jinks that lasted about 30 seconds.

“I was trying to protect the lads and I got them out of there as quickly as possible.

“It was over before anything serious happened and that’s all there was to it.”

Mr Vickers said his players are not malicious and remain determined to “give our all for the club and the town.”

Asked about the pub ban, he said: “Decisions have been made and you’ve got to respect those decisions. However, no one likes to have their name tarnished over nothing.”

Ryan Moss said he and the other players were “easy targets” to be identified on the night as they were wearing fancy dress but they were trying to break up what was happening.

And he said if there had been more security at the pub then any problems would have been prevented, adding: “Pubwatch should look at the ways they look after their pubs first and maybe these incidents would not happen.”

Chairman Shaun Hearn was unaware of the ban when contacted by the Echo but said he had known of “high jinks at Christmas.” He said: “If players have brought the club into disrepute we will take action against them. But it’s come as a great shock to me after the week we’ve had already.”

A Dorset Police spokesman confirmed they were called to the Royal Oak pub at 11.50pm on December 18 last year.

He said: “One man was reportedly knocked unconscious although he was able to walk out of the pub once he regained consciousness. An ambulance was called.

“Five people were initially arrested in connection with this incident but no further action was taken against any of them.”

Gary Bowles and Jamie Frampton were unavailable for comment.