The Seagulls have lodged an official complaint after the under-11 National Five-A-Side Championships on Hackney Marshes, east London.

Manager Bob Bantock accused individuals of elbowing, spitting, swearing and "taking out" opponents.

He also claimed his own son Steven, who joins Albion's Centre of Excellence set-up in September was a victim.

Bantock senior told organisers he would think twice about taking part again.

He said: "Steven had only been on the pitch for 30 seconds, was deliberately taken out and had to go off injured.

"The boy went for him, not the ball and connected with his foot and that was the end of Steven's match.

"He'd only just come back from three months out with a stress fracture and the challenge could really have affected his future in football at an important time for him.

"We played Junior Hammers in our final game with nothing at stake because neither of us could qualify but they had one player red-carded and another booked.

"Boys were going for opponents instead of the ball and players were being deliberately slammed into the surrounding plywood walls.

"I was amazed. There were elbows, pushing, pulling shirts and kicking people on the ground. There was also spitting and swearing.

"The disgraceful behaviour of many players was just not acceptable and I told the organisers that. We're going to have to think long and hard about whether we try and qualify again.

"You expect aggression but not like this - it was a terrible.

"There were about 12 scouts from the Premiership and first division clubs there and you must have wondered what they were thinking, because there wasn't much skill around.

"Our boys tried to play it around a bit and didn't get one red or yellow card."

The Seagulls only lost one match but failed to qualify after finishing third in their group, which involved teams from London, Newcastle, Lincoln and Birmingham.

But they were 12th overall in an age group that started with 400 teams whittled down to 28 for the finals.