The 6th of February marks the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air disaster where 23 people lost their lives on that fateful day. Not only did Manchester United loose 8 players, England lost 3 internationals also. It's sometimes hard in today's world of commercialised football to understand what what football teams meant to their communities back then. It was ordinary working class men earning a few bob more than the dockers and construction workers or miners up and down the country doing a job they loved. Today's modern footballer is a million miles apart from the players back then.
I can only speak from what my parents and grandparents told me about the Busby Babes. There was none of this bitter rivalry that sometimes sours the Beautiful game. Back then, people used to turn upto games as much to see their home team as they did The Busby Babes.
Sir Matt Busby was interviewed once and told about the footballing ethos he instilled in his teams back in the 50's & 60's. "Give the working class man some entertainment. Be a hero and let him forget the troubles and stresses of his life, even if its for only ninety minutes on a Saturday afternoon" The obligation to entertain before results is often missed in today's game also.
Regardless of whether the minutes silence is observed tomorrows international or Sundays derby is irrelevant. It's about respecting a special group of players who were mature beyond their years. It's been said that if it wasn't for the Munich Air Disaster then England would have won the world cup in '58.
Players
Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards
Mark Jones
David Pegg
Tommy Taylor
Liam (Billy) Whelan
Journalists
Alf Clarke
Don Davies
George Follows
Tom Jackson
Archie Ledbrooke
Henry Rose
Eric Thompson
Frank Swift
Also killed
Walter Crickmer - club secretary who was in charge of the side during the war.
Bert Whalley - Chief Coach. Former left-half at Old Trafford.
Tom Curry - Trainer. Joined United in mid-30s and regarded by Matt Busby as "best trainer in Britain.''
Capt Kenneth Rayment - Co-Pilot
Bela Miklos - Travel Agent
Willie Satinoff - Supporter
Tom Cable - Steward
The Flowers of Manchester
One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,
Seven great football stalwarts conceded victory,
Seven men will never play again who met destruction there,
The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
Matt Busby's boys were flying, returning from Belgrade,
This great United family, all masters of their trade,
The pilot of the aircraft and the skipper Captain Thain,
Three times they tried to take her up and twice turned back again.
The third time down the runaway disaster followed close,
There was ice upon the wings and the aircraft never rose,
It ran upon the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.
And seven of the team were killed when the battered aircraft burned.
Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England's side.
And Ireland's Billy Whelan and England's Geoff Bent died,
Mark Jones and Eddie Colman, and David Pegg also,
Before the blazing wreckage went ploughing through the snow.
The trainer, coach and secretary, and a member of the crew,
Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew,
and one of them was Big Swifty, we never will forget,
the greatest English 'keeper who ever graced a net.
They said that Duncan Edwards had an injury to his brain,
They said that Jackie Blanchflower would never play again,
Matt Busby he was lying there, the father of the team
Six months or more did pass before he saw another game
Oh, England's finest football team its record truly great,
its proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate.
Seven men will never play again, who met destruction there,
the flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
I can only speak from what my parents and grandparents told me about the Busby Babes. There was none of this bitter rivalry that sometimes sours the Beautiful game. Back then, people used to turn upto games as much to see their home team as they did The Busby Babes.
Sir Matt Busby was interviewed once and told about the footballing ethos he instilled in his teams back in the 50's & 60's. "Give the working class man some entertainment. Be a hero and let him forget the troubles and stresses of his life, even if its for only ninety minutes on a Saturday afternoon" The obligation to entertain before results is often missed in today's game also.
Regardless of whether the minutes silence is observed tomorrows international or Sundays derby is irrelevant. It's about respecting a special group of players who were mature beyond their years. It's been said that if it wasn't for the Munich Air Disaster then England would have won the world cup in '58.
Players
Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards
Mark Jones
David Pegg
Tommy Taylor
Liam (Billy) Whelan
Journalists
Alf Clarke
Don Davies
George Follows
Tom Jackson
Archie Ledbrooke
Henry Rose
Eric Thompson
Frank Swift
Also killed
Walter Crickmer - club secretary who was in charge of the side during the war.
Bert Whalley - Chief Coach. Former left-half at Old Trafford.
Tom Curry - Trainer. Joined United in mid-30s and regarded by Matt Busby as "best trainer in Britain.''
Capt Kenneth Rayment - Co-Pilot
Bela Miklos - Travel Agent
Willie Satinoff - Supporter
Tom Cable - Steward
The Flowers of Manchester
One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,
Seven great football stalwarts conceded victory,
Seven men will never play again who met destruction there,
The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
Matt Busby's boys were flying, returning from Belgrade,
This great United family, all masters of their trade,
The pilot of the aircraft and the skipper Captain Thain,
Three times they tried to take her up and twice turned back again.
The third time down the runaway disaster followed close,
There was ice upon the wings and the aircraft never rose,
It ran upon the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.
And seven of the team were killed when the battered aircraft burned.
Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England's side.
And Ireland's Billy Whelan and England's Geoff Bent died,
Mark Jones and Eddie Colman, and David Pegg also,
Before the blazing wreckage went ploughing through the snow.
The trainer, coach and secretary, and a member of the crew,
Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew,
and one of them was Big Swifty, we never will forget,
the greatest English 'keeper who ever graced a net.
They said that Duncan Edwards had an injury to his brain,
They said that Jackie Blanchflower would never play again,
Matt Busby he was lying there, the father of the team
Six months or more did pass before he saw another game
Oh, England's finest football team its record truly great,
its proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate.
Seven men will never play again, who met destruction there,
the flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
