Oxford United have abandoned a new range of American style-sportswear after it inadvertently referenced the tragedy of September 11. The League One club launched its new ‘Campus Collection’ on Friday morning and had removed it from sale by lunchtime, after clothing designs were revealed to bear the slogan ‘United 93’. The U’s immediately published an apology that admitted to a lack of understanding of “the historical context and associations” related to the branding and made “sincere apologies for this error and any offence caused.” “Inspired by the style and culture of American sports”, the club originally trailed the Campus Collection as launching on 11 September of this year, the 25th anniversary of the atrocity that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Concerns over sensitivity saw the launch then delayed, but when the online collection was finally made available for sale on Friday, images showed models wearing an NFL-style shirt with ‘United 93’ on the chest, in recognition of Oxford being founded in 1893. United 93 was one of four domestic passenger jets seized by al-Qaida terrorists on 11 September 2001. A mutiny by passengers prevented hijackers from using the plane to destroy a government building in Washington DC, and it ultimately crashed into a field, killing all 44 people on board.
A film titled ‘United 93’ was also made about the tragedy. The Campus Collection was live for approximately two hours on Friday before the webpage was deleted by the club after it realised the meaning of the phrase. Once again, we would like to put on record our sincere apologies for this error and any offence caused.” Opinion was mixed among Oxford fans, with many outraged but others inclined to forgive the error.
One user of the Yellows Forum called it a “monumental cock-up that I would expect to be sacked for if I’d signed off on it”. Another wrote: “Whilst not ideal … everyone who sees this realises there’s no malicious intent. Ultimately there was just no consideration to it at all.”
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