Oxford apologise for United 93 shirt advert

Oxford United has issued an apology after releasing imagery of a shirt bearing the inscription “United 93” on the back, a reference to the flight hijacked on September 11, 2001. The garment was intended to allude to the club’s founding year of 1893. However, the club said the item was released “without knowing of the humanities discourse and associations”. United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people on board after being hijacked on 11 September 2001. A documentary titled United 93 depicting the events was released in 2006. Oxford United, founded in 1893 as an amateur side called Headington, now competes 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 In a statement, the club said its Campus Clothing range had been withdrawn and it “sincerely apologised” for the mistake. “It should not person reached the constituent of merchantability and we instrumentality afloat work for not undertaking due owed diligence,” it said. “We person removed the postulation with contiguous effect and are reviewing our support processes to guarantee thing similar this happens again.” The September 11 attacks involved 19 Al‑Qaeda operatives who hijacked four commercial passenger aircraft in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both towers to collapse. A third aircraft struck the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., while the fourth—United 93—went down in a rural field in Pennsylvania. Investigators believe the flight was headed for the U.S. Capitol, also located in Washington, D.C. The attacks claimed the lives of 2,977 individuals and left tens of thousands injured.