Jam and Jerusalem tends to be the usual fare at WI meetings but members got more than they bargained for on a trip to the Humber Bridge.

As 50 ladies gathered at the Humber Bridge car park for a pleasant walk, trouble kicked off between two Hull City players.

It's usually a case of handbags on the pitch but Tigers stars Nicky Barmby and Jimmy Bullard had a bust-up at the bridge when players arrived for a warm-down session.

It prompted conversation at the Women's Institute rally to turn to the players' bad behaviour.

And showing a no-nonsense approach many a football manager would take, one of the ladies who saw the altercation is even believed to have confronted a player to give him a dressing-down.

Now, City manager Phil Brown has apologised to the WI for the players' antics.

Sheila Wheldon, chairman of public affairs for the East Yorkshire Federation of Women's Institutes, saw the Premier League stars arrive in their expensive cars.

Mrs Wheldon, from Beverley, said: "It was very, very strange. All these men swept up in their big cars and got out and they didn't seem to have any motivation.

"There was no trainer and they didn't seem to know what to do."

Mrs Wheldon, who had organised the bridge walk for WI members from across the county to mark National Women's Day, realised something was amiss when one of the ladies went to remonstrate with a player.

She said: "I personally didn't see anyone falling out, I only know what this lady told me.

"She just said 'I am disgusted, they have been fighting'.

"I just saw her going over towards this young man in a car. I thought she was perhaps asking for his autograph.

"It was only when she walked towards me that I could see she was really upset.

"She was upset that they had gone and started fighting because they are men, they are not obviously boys.

"She came over and said 'if my grandson, who is a Hull City fanatic, was here it would have been so embarrassing'."

Mrs Wheldon thought the bust-up must have been a result of Sunday's 5-1 thrashing at Everton.

Tigers boss Brown has now made a public apology to the WI.

He said: "Normally, you get every day training ground spats that happen where you get two boys involved wanting to settle differences on the training ground and they slug it out.

"Unfortunately, it happened off the training ground, it happened near the Humber Bridge, which was the warm down venue for Monday and I'd like to apologise to the Women's Institute. I didn't realise there was a rally going on there."

He said the incident was 'unsavoury and unfortunate' but he said the players shook hands the next day.

He added: "It's a sign for me that Nicky Barmby got himself involved with Jimmy Bullard and it's a sign that they care.

"They are big players where we're concerned and I'm looking forward to the response of the group and the two players in question."