This morning I posted the blog About the sick shirt with 96 not enough on it, the story spread like wildfire across the internet and the response has been tremendous.
Here is an update.
The perpetrator Colm Jackson did remove the photo and apologised on the group he originally posted it on, he also changed his profile picture to a more humble looking one. He has also sent out this message to those who did send him a Facebook message.
“I DEEPLY APOLGISES FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE AND DID NOT REALISE THE SHEER DISREPCT OF IT I KNOW AS FOOTBALL TEAMS WE HATE EACH OTHER BUT I HAVE GONE TOO FAR I HAVE NOW REMOVED THE SHIRT OFF FACEBOOK AND I ALSO BURNED IT I KNOW 96 PEOPLE DIED THAT DAY AS A STUPID LITTLE CHILD I AM I GOT IT PRINTED ON THE SHIRT WHICH WAS REALLY REALLY STUPID AND MY INBOX MESSAGES ARE FULL OF THREATS AND IT IS A DISGRACE TO MAN UNITED FANS I DEEPLY SORRY FOR STUPID THING I HAVE DONE”
I have also received claims that Sports Direct have also emailed those who complained.
Thank you for your e-mail concerning the Man Utd. shirt printed at our Manchester Arndale store.
Please find below a statement concerning this.
Sports Direct International plc
Statement re football shirt
Sports Direct has been notified that an extremely offensive and wholly inappropriate football shirt was printed at one of its stores. The store assistant printed this unknowingly and has been deeply shocked upon being notified of the significance of this and the upset caused.
As a result, Sports Direct has taken immediate action and changed the administration policy for printing football shirts across its store network. With immediate effect, it will only allow printing of current football players names and numbers on football shirts.
Sports Direct has contacted Facebook to request the urgent withdrawal of this deeply offensive image from the individual’s Facebook page, and is very apologetic for this spiteful and abusive shirt.
Yours faithfully
Mr K Fitch
Customer Service Manager
I personally want to thank those who brought this to my attention this morning, all the Liverpool & non-Liverpool fans who helped get the word out and for their actions and all the other football blogs which carried this story.
Let this be a warning to anyone who tries something stupid like this in the future. Racism or defaming the dead is not cool, no matter if it is Hillsborough, Heysel or Munich it is not behavior that is tolerated in the 21st century. I will not hesitate to expose anyone who would do such a thing in the future.
You can hate a team and hating a team is fair game but YOU NEVER DEFAME OR INSULT THE DEAD NOR DO YOU MAKE ANY RACIST OR ANTI-SEMITIC REMARKS.
Y.N.W.A.
-Antoine
antoine@empireofthekop.com