EFL club apologise over United 93 advert

A football club has apologised after it published images of a new clothing line with "United 93" printed on the back - the call sign of one of the aircraft hijacked on 9/11.

The clothing was supposed to make reference to Oxford United's founding year of 1893.

However, it said it had been released "without understanding of the historical context and associations".

United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people on board after being hijacked on 11 September 2001. A docudrama film titled United 93 was made about the tragedy and released in 2006.

Oxford United was founded in 1893 as an amateur club called Headington and now plays in League One - the third tier of the English football pyramid.

In a statement, the club said its Campus Clothing range had been withdrawn and it "sincerely apologised" for the error.

"It should not have reached the point of sale and we take full responsibility for not undertaking proper due diligence," it said.

"We have removed the collection with immediate effect and are reviewing our approval processes to ensure nothing like this happens again."

The 9/11 attacks saw 19 Al Qaeda members hijack four commercial passenger planes in the US.

I understand the link perceived by some, including myself, but where does it stop?

A bigger issue for me, was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, giving a known very vocal Osama Bin Laden supporter an ‘award’ for ‘reconciliation and interfaith cooperation’ on 11th September in a ceremony that coincided with the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US in which nearly 3,000 people were killed

The ‘award’ was withdrawn ‘after comments made have come to light’

I know which is the ‘issue’ that we should be more concerned about!

I understand the link perceived by some, including myself, but where does it stop?

A bigger issue for me, was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, giving a known very vocal Osama Bin Laden supporter an ‘award’ for ‘reconciliation and interfaith cooperation’ on 11th September in a ceremony that coincided with the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US in which nearly 3,000 people were killed

The ‘award’ was withdrawn ‘after comments made have come to light’

I know which is the ‘issue’ that we should be more concerned about!

I agree Chris. I think this is a genuine oversight by Oxford and good that they've apologised quickly. But you'd think you'd do background checks before giving a prestigious award, although given the conduct of the last Archbishop of Canterbury maybe that isn't a surprise.

I understand the link perceived by some, including myself, but where does it stop?

A bigger issue for me, was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, giving a known very vocal Osama Bin Laden supporter an ‘award’ for ‘reconciliation and interfaith cooperation’ on 11th September in a ceremony that coincided with the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US in which nearly 3,000 people were killed

The ‘award’ was withdrawn ‘after comments made have come to light’

I know which is the ‘issue’ that we should be more concerned about!

I agree Chris. I think this is a genuine oversight by Oxford and good that they've apologised quickly. But you'd think you'd do background checks before giving a prestigious award, although given the conduct of the last Archbishop of Canterbury maybe that isn't a surprise.

Absolutely, Ned. This trend towards ‘looking’ for offence (like Oxford) demeans the seriousness of those occurrences like the one involving the Archbishop, who now needs to step down in the interests of what remains of the church in this country