A HAPLESS Sunday league team narrowly avoided being named worst in the country – netting themselves a lucrative sponsorship deal in the process.

This season, Darlington’s Red Hall Tigers made a name for themselves as possibly the worst team in the country after losing a string of games and being rooted to the bottom of their league with a -68 goal difference.

In one horrendous defeat, the ever-enthusiastic Tigers lost 29-nil and pointed the blame at their former manager for signing them up to the wrong league.

Their stoic determination in the face of near-constant defeat earned them national headlines and saw them selected to compete in the Flaming Failures Cup Final, staged in Birmingham on Saturday, March 21.

The competition saw terrible teams from across the nation compete to be recognised as the best of the worst.

The Red Hall Tigers took on Gwent side Scouting for Goals – who had lost 56 games in a row – and walked away with an unexpected victory, winning 19-0.

Narrowly avoiding the official title of worst team in the UK, the lads received a sponsorship deal with Flaming Grill worth £1,000.

Striker Andy Dixon said: “We were absolutely over the moon to win 19-nil, the lads couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Once we hit ten goals we knew the sponsorship was in the bag and it was great, a really big lift for us.

“The sponsorship will give us much more security and let us buy new equipment and carry on.”

Saying the team were looking forward to being relegated next season, he added: “We were thrown in the deep end as a team and we’ll be going into a division which will be a lot easier.

“It’ll let us start from the bottom and work up, like it’s supposed to be – we’re looking forward to that.”

Karen Davies, general manager of the Brinkburn Flaming Grill in Darlington, said: “We were looking for the worst of the worst to take part in the Flaming Failures Cup Final and we weren’t disappointed.

“There are hundreds of hardworking, passionate teams playing in Sunday League and 5-a-side competitions every week come rain or shine.

“With the Flaming Failures Cup we wanted to show that whether your striker can’t hit the back of the net, your defender spends more time on the floor than on the ball and your goalkeeper couldn’t catch a cold, it doesn’t really matter as it’s all about enjoying the beautiful game.”