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Canterbury issues apology for recent Ireland jersey gaffe

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Sportswear company Canterbury have held their hand up and apologised after their recent Ireland rugby jersey launch caused offence with supporters of the women’s team. 

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While resources and ideas were thrown behind the launch of the men’s jersey on August 20, with players from Andy Farrell’s Test team such as Bundee Aki modelling the new shirt, Canterbury took a shortcut when it came to promoting the women’s version. 

Rather than organise for players from Adam Griggs’ squad to be involved in the launch, Canterbury used models to show off the new jerseys, a decision that proved unpopular in a climate where women’s sport in Ireland has been growing awareness in the last year with a nationwide 20×20 campaign.

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      The criticism Canterbury shipped online was widespread and it has now resulted in a grovelling apology seven days later. 

      Posting a message on Twitter, Canterbury wrote: “As a brand, we believe in putting our hands up if we get something wrong. To announce that our new Ireland women’s Pro jersey was available for pre-order, we superimposed the jersey’s image onto a model to share this exciting development with our dedicated female players and fans. 

      “It was always, and remains, our intention to photograph the female players in the new jersey and we remain committed to supporting the talented women in our rugby community on and off the field. 

      “While the image was primarily designed for our website, which also features male models, it has understandably caused some frustration. We accept that this was an error and apologise for any upset caused. 

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      “At Canterbury, we believe that rugby is for everyone and we are united by our mutual love of the game. We look forward to sharing our ‘A New Horizon’ campaign to support the launch of our Ireland women’s Pro jersey in October with the same commitment and dedication that we have for all our teams. 

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      JW 1 hour ago
      France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations

      Sorry my delivery on that joke was a bit bland. But to reply to the couple of good points you make, to me it just seemed like they had no plan with why Gatland was staying on. I mean the plan seemed to be “just get us a win against Italy and we can continue on as we are”, which is just terrible if that’s what Gatland was trying to achieve for Wales imo.


      Did it just happen to be Italy that he saw his team weren’t able to achieve his vision of success? I mean Italy are a very good side so its by no means a lost cause to not look like world beaters. Sure his focus should have been on more transient factors like growth and style for a full rebuild, not trying to avoid the wooden spoon.


      Which brings me to you main point, that would be exactly what the benefit of dropping down a tier would be. A chance to really implement something, get good at it, then take it up a level again once you’re ready. Even for Italy it must have been an incredibly brutal environment to have been trying to develop as a side.


      Not saying of course that the other EU teams would be any better, but it might be better for everyone if say ‘years of tough losses’ are shared between countries, rather than see Wales go through this journey two, three, possible four years in a row. Of course the main reason they don’t want to miss just one 6N season is because it would probably tank the game in their country missing out on all that revenue. I have always said they should look at widening the revenue share, there are plenty of competitions that have systems to keep bottom teams competitive, and the 6N would only make more money if it was a tierd competition with prom/rel.

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