Oxford United Apologise for Clothing Range Error
Oxford United have pulled a new clothing range and issued a public apology after releasing items emblazoned with “United 93” on the back – the call sign of one of the planes hijacked during the 9/11 attacks.
The intention was simple enough: a nod to the club’s roots and its founding year of 1893. The execution was anything but.
The “Campus Clothing” line, designed to reference 1893, instead echoed United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on 11 September 2001 after being hijacked. All 44 people on board were killed. The story of that flight was later retold in the 2006 docudrama film United 93.
Once the connection was spotted, the backlash was swift. The club moved quickly to withdraw the range.
In a statement, Oxford United said the collection had been released “without understanding of the historical context and associations” and confirmed it had been taken off sale immediately. The club said it “sincerely apologised” for the mistake.
“It should not have reached the point of sale and we take full responsibility for not undertaking proper due diligence,” the statement read. “We have removed the collection with immediate effect and are reviewing our approval processes to ensure nothing like this happens again.”
Oxford United, originally founded as Headington in 1893 and now competing in League One, the third tier of English football, had intended the design as a straightforward heritage reference. Instead, it collided with one of the darkest days in modern history.
On 11 September 2001, 19 Al Qaeda members hijacked four commercial airliners in the United States. Two were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, causing both towers to collapse. Another struck the Pentagon, near Washington DC. The fourth, United 93, came down in rural Pennsylvania and was believed to have been headed for the US Capitol Building.
The attacks killed 2,977 people and injured tens of thousands more.
For Oxford United, a line of leisurewear has become a stark lesson in how a simple number can carry a weight of meaning far beyond football – and why those checks they now promise will have to be more than just a box-ticking exercise.
