The chairman of a Bristol football club whose members were arrested for dressing up as lingerie-wearing nuns on holiday in Crete says they were naïve not to realise they could cause offence.

The Hanham Sunday Tour made headlines across Europe when the 17 men were arrested in the resort of Malia at the weekend and hauled before a Greek prosecutor, still dressed in their habits and wimples.

The fancy dress theme did not go down well with police on an island where 97 per cent of people are Greek Orthodox Christians and Hanham Athletic club chairman Mick Underhill warned other tourists to think twice about behaviour that could upset locals.

Arriving at Bristol International Airport early yesterday morning on flight TCX727 from Heraklion, the bleary-eyed but cheerful holiday-makers were all relieved to be home after charges against them were dropped.

And when asked if they regretted dressing up as nuns in a largely religious country, Mr Underhill said: "In hindsight, because we did not have any intentions of upsetting anybody, yes. We were a little bit naïve.

"As soon as we realised what we had done had upset someone, we were upset.

"We just did it for fun. We were there to laugh at ourselves and wanted people to laugh at us and with us.

"But all of the nonsense about any of our people being foolish, that's just totally untrue."

And his message to other tourists planning to dress up abroad was to "be careful".

Since the 1960s, current and ex-players of Hanham Athletic and Hanham Sunday league team have gone on tour every year.

This summer they chose the resort of Malia, which has become synonymous with "Brits abroad" not always on their best behaviour.

After 40 gruelling hours in a cramped prison cell they appeared at court on Monday, still dressed in their costumes.

Describing the conditions the men were held under, Mr Underhill, 59, said: "We're very relieved to be home – it was grim. We were in a horrendous prison." Tour member Martin Portock said he felt they had been "very hard done by".

"By the time we were in court it was three days with no clothes and no wash," he said.

As the Post has previously reported, the tour party are considering legal action in relation to their treatment after their arrest, but Mr Underhill said he would be speaking to a solicitor on behalf of Hanham Athletic before any decision was made.

The men posed for a team photo under the arrival gates at the airport, before leaving in a minibus bound for their homes across Bristol.