The United States Military Academy has stripped a motto from its football team spirit flag because of its connection to hate groups, the academy said on Sunday.

Since the mid-1990s, the Army Black Knights football team at West Point has been using a flag with a skull and crossbones and “G.F.B.D.”, which stands for “God Forgives, Brothers Don’t,” the academy said.

The letters were on the upper lip of the skull.

“The motto was originally used to emphasize teamwork, loyalty and toughness,” the academy’s public affairs office said in a statement on Sunday.

The team used the motto until academy officials learned that the phrase was associated with extremist groups. The slogan was removed in September and the team is continuing to use the flag without it, a spokesman said.