London, July 22 (IANS) A primary school in Britain has banned football after its pupils were found copying the cheating and fouling tactics displayed by international stars in the World Cup.

Pat Fay, headmistress of the Plymtree Cofe primary school, near Cullompton in Devon, said a culture of cheating at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa caused a 'decline in standards' amongst her pupils, the Daily Mail reported.

The pupils began fouling, cheating and shirt pulling after watching their role models misbehave on television, she claimed.

All 83 children of the school have been disallowed from playing the game in the school yard during lunch break and before and after school.

'We are a Church of England school and we very much value developing a caring attitude among our pupils. We felt that playground football was causing a decline in those standards and we noticed that things got worse during the World Cup,' she said.

'Children watched their heroes and role models on television and then copied the fouling and the shirt pulling and the cheating that went on. They saw famous players behaving badly and when they got into the playground, thought it was OK to kick another player or grab their jumper and pull them over.'