Vianney Girls' Soccer Team's 'Bring Your Shanks' Tweet Angers Neptune Parents

HOLMDEL, NJ — Update: St. John Vianney Soccer Mom Clears Up Tweet Controversy

A tweet from the St. John Vianney High School girls' soccer team that has since been taken down has seriously angered some Neptune High School parents and community members. But an SJV mom explained the girls' soccer team has been using the phrase for years and meant nothing harmful by it.

Saint John Vianney, located in Holmdel, played Neptune girls' soccer Thursday morning in a pre-season scrimmage. The Tweet started out harmlessly enough, encouraging students to come to the Holmdel game: "Everyone come support the team home @ 10:00 for our first scrimmage vs. Neptune! #bringyourshanks #give5"

It's the term "shanks" that Neptune mom Erika Kerwin finds offensive. Kerwin is the mother of two girls on the Neptune varsity team; her oldest daughter, a senior, is the girls' soccer goalie and her youngest is an incoming freshman this fall.

"When you shank someone, you're in prison and you take a knife and stab them, it's pretty clear," she told Patch. "Look, I know all about high school sports rivalries. This goes beyond that. They're either trying to say we're a bunch of thugs or they're saying they're going to bring shanks to the game, which is not OK."

The tweet also exposed class differences between students at Saint John Vianney, a private Catholic school where tuition starts at $12,000 per year, and students in Neptune, which is a decidedly more blue-collar area.

"We get a bad rap being Neptune," continued Kerwin. "And let me just say if the Neptune soccer team or Asbury Park soccer team had written that tweet, the police would be boarding our bus the second we got back from the game. It's just not a very Christian thing to write. If this is a Catholic school, these are not the right values. And I was raised Catholic!"

But in reality nothing could be farther from the truth, said Tina Ruane, the mother of an SJV soccer player. For two years now, the SJV girls have been saying "Bring your shanks" to games as in bring your shins, ready to kick, said Tina Ruane, whose daughter is on the team.

"The girls don't use an Urban Dictionary or prison slang. A shank is a shin bone and for two seasons the SJV Lady Lancers have been bringing their shanks to games," said Ruane. "To win. It's a slogan. For the team. Bring your game. Be ready to play. Be ready to win. Nothing more. Unfortunately, it was misinterpreted by a parent and now our girls/team have been labeled."

"I am appalled at the assumption that our girls are violent or any way threatening to the Neptune team," she added. "I take offense to what the Neptune mother has accused the team of. (She) made something out of nothing. Publicly slandered a team of young ladies that just don't think that way."

The tweet was deleted after online backlash Thursday.

When Richard Lamberson, Saint John Vianney's Athletic Director, was shown the tweet by Patch he said it was the first he'd heard of it. The Twitter account is most likely run by Vianney students.

"This Twitter account is not a school-sanctioned account and I'm going to be looking into who runs it," Lamberson told Patch. "We are 100 percent looking into this situation. I'm in communication with Neptune's athletic director over this and I've already contacted our soccer coaching staff. I'm going to be meeting with the girls' soccer team first thing Friday morning."

Saint John Vianney's mascot is a knight and the team is nicknamed "The Lancers." Could "shank" be a reference to a lance or knight's sword?

"I don't know what the term meant. That's something we have to look into," he said.

"I've never heard of people using the term 'shank' as a nickname. There is no way you're confusing a lance with a shank," said Kerwin, who did say she was happy Lamberson was taking the matter seriously.

"I would like an apology, I think that would be nice," she said.

Kerwin is not alone. Several people lashed back on Twitter and many Neptune parents voiced anger on Facebook Thursday, saying the tweet was offensive.