‘She won’t forget her place’: Trent Rugby League kick up a storm with ‘offensive’ T-shirt

Nottingham Trent’s Rugby League team were forced to apologise today after a social shirt caused offence in Ocean.

@Melissa__thomas We would like to apologise for any offence unintentionally caused by our social shirts. They will not be worn again.

— Trent Rugby League (@NTURugbyLeague) November 28, 2014

The shirt had the words “she won’t forget her place” printed on the back. It was spotted by Ocean employee Mel Thomas.

She said: “On the front of his shirt he has the NTU Rugby League logo, and was sponsored by NTSU. This slogan to me, is disgusting.

“I feel that unless this incident and others similar to it are shared, this kind of unacceptable behaviour will never end.”

Mel took to social media to confront NTSU about the shirt, and while NTU rugby league were apologetic, she was met with a barrage of abuse both on Facebook and Twitter.

She added: “I took to Twitter, as this is how I share everyday things with both NTU Feminist Society and other national feminist organisations.

“I was then tweeted by ‘lads’ saying that this was purely just banter, that feminists take things too seriously and that this is just comedy.  

“I do not find this funny, I find this offensive.”

Mel said how fake accounts were made to send her hateful messages.

She said: “Someone made a fake account to send me tweets from which I thought was a little excessive.

“I’ve only ever heard that phrase used in films or something, its definitely a threatening term to use.

“He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would want his picture taken by the bar staff.”

The Rugby League team apologised to Mel on twitter and said the t-shirts would not be worn again.

At the time of publishing, NTSU could not be reached for comment.