- Wagga RSL Bowls club bans shirt
- Shirt was a tribute to the diggers
- READ MORE: Defence veterans needs more protections, landmark inquiry finds
The federal government has been asked to step in after a community bowls club tried enforcing a trademark on the phrase 'lest we forget'.
Wagga RSL Bowling Club, in New South Wales, said it will refuse entry to any players who show up wearing a special t-shirt made to honour the diggers.
Dozens of players wore the orange, white and blue shirts featuring military iconography with 'lest we forget' written on the back for Anzac Day.
More than 100 of the shirts were made for the occasion and they have continued to be worn since.
Now the shirt has been banned in the days leading up Victory in the Pacific Day.
The day celebrates the end of World War II on August 15, 1945.
Players said they were told by the club's management about the shirt ban.
RSL Australia however, has denied ever requesting such a ban.
Players at Wagga RSL Bowling Club have been told they are not allowed to wear shirts with the phrase 'lest we forget' on them
The clubs' management said RSL Australia owned the phrase trademark and could therefore ban its usage or display
2GB’s Ben Fordham spoke to a member of the club who described the copyright decision as ‘sick’.
‘We wore the shirt last Anzac Day and nobody said anything. Last week we were told we couldn’t wear them anymore or we might have to leave,’ David Ashford said.
Mr Ashford explained that anyone who turned up wearing the shirt from now on would be refused entry, as the club would not accept their green fees.
Green fees allow social bowlers like Mr Ashford to pay a small sum each time they play at the club, controlling how often they attend.
Asked if players were refusing to pay the fees in protest, Mr Ashford said everyone was willing to pay—but the club simply wouldn’t accept their money.
‘I think it’s just a cop out… a way of preventing us from bowling,’ he said.
He also urged the federal government to remove any copyright protection from the phrase ‘lest we forget’, arguing that it has no right to be privatised.
The phrase was first coined in the poem ‘Recessional’ by Rudyard Kipling in 1897, and has since become a tribute to ANZAC troops who lost their lives in the world wars.
RSL Australia said it had never authorised a ban on the phrase
Mr Ashford plays bowls each Wednesday morning before he and some other players fundraise for Wagga Wagga Base Hospital in the afternoon.
His group raises and donates more than $6,000 each year to support the hospital through the club.
Banning them from honouring veterans was 'disgusting', he said.
The shirts had been worn for eight months without issue before the president of the Wagga club banned them.
RSL Australia insisted it had nothing to do with the ban.
'This is the first time RSL Australia has been made aware of this matter and the RSL has not placed any restrictions on its use by the Wagga Bowls Club,' a spokesperson told the publication.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Wagga RSL Bowling Club and RSL Australia for comment.
