A semi-professional football club has become the first in Britain to ban the controversial vuvuzela horn from its stadium.

Fans of Ryman League Division One South side Whyteleafe will be refused entry to the Church Road ground unless they leave the instruments outside, over concerns the horns will spoil the atmosphere of matches.

The 1m-long horns have been roundly criticised by fans, pundits and commentators at the football World Cup currently being held in South Africa for drowning out singing and crowd noise with their one-note din.

Club general secretary Chris Leyton said: “Following widespread negative comments from club members and a wider British audience, the club have decided to ban the Vuvuzela from all matches at Church Road Whyteleafe from now on.

“Anyone bringing a vuvuzela to the clubhouse during the world cup will be asked to leave it outside before being admitted to the clubhouse to watch the matches on the big screen, and when the season starts, will not be permitted to take them into the ground.

“Whyteleafe believe this will be a very popular move with fans who have widely condemned the vuvuzela, which has spoilt the atmosphere at most of the world cup matches, and wish to ensure that fans can enjoy and support football in the traditional way.”

Reports the instrument could be banned from World Cup games have been quoshed by football’s international governing body FIFA, although the BBC is apparently considering filtering out crowd noise during broadcast matches while keeping the game commentary.