A team of young Kingston footballers are devastated after being banned from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to South Korea - because of fears they will infect the country with swine flu.

The heartbroken Esher FC juniors - which includes children from New Malden and Kingston - had been training for weeks ahead of their planned dream visit to the Asian country for a four-day football tournament on July 23.

But worried parents from Gwang Myeong City, where the tournament is due to take place, put a stop to the Kingston youngsters’ trip by pressurising local councillors to ban them from the games.

South Korea has recorded about 200 cases of swine flu since the disease reached the country on May 2, which pales in comparison to the 9,000 cases and 17 deaths confirmed in the UK - the third highest in the world.

Trip Organiser Dock No, from New Malden, who has been working for weeks to help arrange the wonder trip for the boys, said he felt sick when he received the shock call on July 15.

He said: “I’m speechless - I wish I had never got involved. These kids are only 11 and 12 years old and it’s heartbreaking for them.

“There are 128 kids from Korea participating in the tournament and the players’ parents have pressurised the local council to stop them from coming, because they are worried about the disease spreading.

“I don’t know what we are going to do - they have been looking forward to this so much.”

Mr No said fears had been raised in the country after a school had to be shut down for two months when the study body was infected with swine flu by a Canadian exchange student.

Fears were raised after team members came into contact with swine flu at Our Lady Immaculate Primary School, which was revealed as having confirmed a case of the virus in last week’s Surrey Comet.

Team manager Adrian Roche described the snub as a “kick in the teeth”.

He said: “The South Koreans are obviously dealing with it in their own way and it seems extreme, but if that’s the way they do their business who’s to argue?

“I suppose looking at it from a wider perspective, if it’s going around I’d rather the kids were here than coming down with it when they’re in Korea - I’m half expecting my son to get it and most other people are as well.

“To be honest, we have been pretty dubious about the whole thing from the start, being offered an all-expenses paid trip to Korea, and I’ve always said I won’t believe it until I’ve got the tickets in my hand.

“It looks like I was right.”

Grand Avenue and King Athelstan primary schools have also confirmed cases of the virus, with one mother at the latter saying parents “went bananas” when they were informed on July 16.

More than 40,000 people in the UK are contacting their doctors over fears they have swine flu, according to figures released last week by the Royal College of GPs.

• See our swine flu section for the latest updates