The Official 50 Year Anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster Thread

Re: The Munich 50th Anniversary Thread - Open Discussion

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/6/newsid_2535000/2535961.stm

The BBC's original news reports.

 

Re: The Munich 50th Anniversary Thread - Open Discussion

A photo gallery from the days before, of, and after the crash.

http://www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery/MunichAirCrash/default.html

 

Good interview with Harry Gregg:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/features/munichdisaster_av.html?2332805,null,209

 

Bill Foulkes in an excerpt from his book. Definitely one of the most vivid recreations of the event I've read.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article3295276.ece

This line particularly gets me:

 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=505119&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1&cc=5901

Soccernet on personal memories of Duncan Edwards...

 

I don’t know if this makes me a big softie or w/e but after watching Football Focus on the Munich Anniversary, I was welling up and had to hold back tears. It’s safe to say that Wednesday and Sunday will be one of the most emotional days in supporting United.

 

You are not a softie!

I agree with you! I am not the most emotive person but you do well up when listening to Gregg and the other survivors. I am feeling very melancholy at the moment but everyone is at the moment.

I listened to a radio interview with Harry Gregg yesterday in a special programme so I will put here and you can find it there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/

 

A great article from the MEN on Jimmy Murphy -

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1035191_forgotten_red_hero

Also, in the comments to that story there is one from "roy paul", who despite being Citeh has some interesting stories about the Babes -

 

Re: The Munich 50th Anniversary Thread - Open Discussion

With all the memories of Duncan Edwards revolving around how he could "do it all", I sometimes wonder what he'd make of today's perhaps overly-specialized players who seem to be masters of their specific job but unable to adapt to new roles.

 

Re: The Munich 50th Anniversary Thread - Open Discussion

You may like this..the whole of the Nation on Film programme from the BBC

Lots of excellent footage from games...http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b008x3qp.shtml?filter=txdate%3A04-02&filter=txslot%3Aevening&start=2&scope=iplayerlast7days&version_pid=b008x3kj

 

I love the Harry Gregg interview. Poignant stuff and it brings me to tears to think about what happened and to read all of the stuff out there about this tragedy.

Long Live United.

 

Re: The Munich 50th Anniversary Thread - Open Discussion

"Nation on Film: Sir Bobby Robson Remembers Munich

Courtesy of UKNova.

 

Everyone take 5 mins and read this article, It’s from Red News. It puts everything into perspective on the Babes and the club we love so much

http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32962

 

Great Article. I really liked the part when he said that many fans know nothing about the history of the club and only watch Rooney and Ronaldo. (Me a year or so ago)

I strongly urge everyone to read some books about the club, you will have a new appriciation for it.

 

Thanx for posting this it was a good read.....
i had goosebumps reading this bcoz i was picturing everything happening, i just hope i can get some sleep after all this.
It's 3:27am here but it feels as if i just got up and i'm ready for the day ahead

 

What is it about this club that grabs me by the scruff of the neck and keeps pulling me in everytime the sheer name is mentioned? I'll tell you one reason for it, it is because of its history. Manchester United Football Club has a history beginning with great expectations to almost total extinction of the club in the very early 1900's to success stories in later decades, to the birth of the Babes, to the rebuilding of a club so desperate for hope that a simple victory would be enough to please most, to the coming of Sir Alex Ferguson who then instilled a way of football that has not ever been seen by fans of football before. However, it is one particular moment in it's history that stands above all else, tragically.

The Munich Air Disaster was a moment not witnessed by me, but by the people of the times. The fact that we are still here talking about it to this very day is testement to the greatness of the Busby Babes and the immense loss felt by even those of us today. As a 19 year old Manchester United fan who has only been supporting this club for around 10 years now it may seem hard to understand how I, and indeed others like me, have been able to draw such a serious connection to this football club (most people don't believe the connection is real, and that we are simply gloryhunters, but that is neither here nor there). A large reason for me feeling a strong bond to this club has got to do with this tragedy. I didn't have this bond when I first started following, I simply just admired the players of the day whether it be Beckham, Scholes, Giggsy, Yorke, etc., but as I later discovered about the Munich Air disaster of 50 years ago I felt a sudden sadness that I never thought possible to feel for a sports team.

The Air Disaster left me feeling that this club, Manchester United, was robbed of perhaps its most glorious years ever. There was (and still is) a gaping hole in the success of Manchester United that is not represented in statistic books or the like, because of the fact that we were simply without a truly functional team for so many years after the disaster. The realism of death and despair that this tremendous club went through in 1958 and the years after bring a sense of real humanism to a football club so far away from me. It is through this striking and tragic humanistic past that draws me so close to the club. I can connect with all other Manchester United fans and players if only because of this... we all mourn for the Busby Babes and we never forget the team that was and could have been, we see each other as human beings staring in the face of the most primitive of human problems that is death and that draws us together. This is my connection and bond to this club. It is in my heart (and forever will be) because of what it went through and how it came out of it.

There is also inspiration to take away from the Munich Air disaster of 50 years ago, and that is the way in which Manchester United rebuilt itself, starting with the game straight after the disaster, they beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in the first match after the tragedy. And a mere ten years later were crowned champions of Europe. The courage, strength, resolve, and love that this team showed after the tragedy is beyond anything else in sports. It epitomises Manchester United Football Club to this very day and it is what inspires me to never stop cheering them on, because we never die... Manchester United stared in the face of death and came away, yes in tatters, but nevertheless we came back... we never ever die.

Let us never forget those who perished from our club (and indeed all the others who lost their lives on that flight): Geoff Bent, Eddie Colman, David Pegg, Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, Liam 'Billy' Whelan, Roger Byrne, Mark Jones, Walter Crickmer (Club Secretary), Bert Whalley (Chief Coach), and Tom Curry (Trainer)..

May these young Princes Of Manchester forever play on in heaven and in the hearts of us all and of this magnificent, amazing club that is Manchester United Football Club. Rest In Peace Busby Babes.

United's flag is deepest red
It shrouded all our Munich dead
Before their limbs grew stiff and cold
Their heart's blood dyed it's ev'ry fold
Then raise United's banner high
Beneath it's shade we'll live and die
So keep the faith and never fear
We'll keep the Red Flag flying here
We'll never die, we'll never die
We'll never die, we'll never die
We'll keep the Red flag flying high
'Cos Man United will never die

 

http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32962


What an outstanding read that was. I get so welled up when I read all these accounts of what happenend and those who fought on in the aftermath of this terrible disaster. It really breaks the heart to see what it did to people like Sir Bobby and Sir Matt. It must have been heartbreaking for them to watch close friends and team mates pass away in such aweful circumstances and feel the need to play on, to keep the flag flying. I hope that never again does a football team climb on to a plane and never return to those waiting for them.

Some things are so much more important than football, and this is the best example I could ever think of.

We remember, and we cherish what you gave us, 50 years on....

 

Just want to post here and say thanks for all these articles, and that the Bubsy Babes will all be in our hearts today.

 

RIP

Keep the red flag flying high...

 

Well what can I say about those who where taken away from us far too early?

Obviously God did not wish to allow the Babes to continue to play on this mortal earth because they were far too good to grace us lowly mortals. God wanted to see these mighty Babes for himself and decided that he must play in a eleven-a-side game with Jesus and the disciples against those mighty babes. No doubt that St Peter was the ref....

Guess what!?

Duncan Edwards and Co thrashed the divine eleven and are now forever playing heavenly football with Bobby Moore and Sir Stanley Matthews. No doubt Sir Matt is still the gaffer and Billy Meredith is twiddling his tooth-pick in his teeth. I am sure that Big Dunc is thundering around the pitch like a mini Heracles to clear the ball from the defence or walloping in a forty yard shot or Roger Bryne bellowing his instructions ala 'Captain Marvel'.

I suppose that at least we can remember the Babes as young strong men, forever young like Peter Pan rather than old men but it ain't no consolation for such talent being cut short like that.

Forever until the day I leave this earth I will continue to hold them in my heart and whistfully imagine what could have been.

 

A team who played football the way it should be played, with panache, pace, and dignity, their potential sadly went unfulfilled. Questions will always be asked as to how good the Busby Babes could have been, and what greatness they could have gone onto had this disaster not occured, but while these questions will never be answered as an outsider I can see that the memory of the Busby Babes is what drives Manchester United Football Club and its players forward to this very day.

I am a man of few words when it comes to the business of other clubs, but while we are great rivals on the pitch, the world of football stands alongside you today to mourn this sad, sad loss of life that is still felt 50 years on.