Munich Air Disaster 1958

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Saturday February 2, 2008

Is Silence Golden? How Should The Busby Babes Be Remembered?

The question of whether one minutes' applause should replace silence when remembering lost lives at football matches has been thrust to the fore by Manchester United's refusal to alter their planned minutes' silence in remembrance of the eight "Babes" who lost their lives fifty years ago in the Munich air disaster.

Pressure had been put on United to swap silence for applause but the club stuck to their original plans explaining that they did not think applause was a suitable way of remembering an event in which 23 people lost their lives.

I, for one, am extremely pleased that United made that decision.

Personally I find the trend of substituting silence with applause irritating in the extreme. It is obvious that this change has come about not because anyone thinks it is a more appropriate way of remembering and honouring the dead but because they see it as a convenient way of masking any people who might be intent on disrupting a silent tribute.

Not only is this an immoral way of dealing with an immoral problem it is, in itself, highly dangerous.

Although almost everyone feels a deep sense of disgust when they encounter a situation where a silent tribute is broken by the unthinking voices of a moronic minority it is actually better that those voices are heard.

There is no point drowning the voices out and pretending that they are not there. Doing that not only allows those voices to continue it offers an environment in which they can actually gather force.

Ignoring an evil seldom leads to its' termination. In this case it seems as though authority is almost condoning those who choose to spread bile through what should be a time of contemplation and respect.

The message is "we know what's going on, we know it's wrong really but it's ok to carry on what you're doing and we'll just change the system so that nobody notices you."

There was uproar when England played in the Spain the other year and the Spanish fans were making monkey noises at England's black players. Would it have then been ok if the Spanish authorities had come back and said "Don't worry, next time we play you we'll get 90% of the crowd to clap and cheer the black lads so they won't notice the others doing their chimp impressions."

No, that wouldn't have been acceptable and it's not acceptable to allow any incidents of football "fans" marring a minutes' silence to be hidden or go unreported.

Quite frankly such behaviour not only shows that football still teeters on the brink of a hooligan problem but it highlights a more disturbing trend within society as a whole and, to be honest, such problems are likely to manifest themselves more seriously away from football.

Without wanting to veer into social or political comment there is no doubt that anti social behaviour is commonplace in this country and that the severity of it is escalating rapidly. Again we can choose to ignore it but in 20 years time how many of our children or grandchildren will be carrying guns?

Problems cannot be ignored they must be addressed.

The people who decide to have applause instead of silence are simply turning their backs on an awkward problem so that they don't have to do anything about sorting it out.

The FA were not going to mark Munich with any kind of tribute before England's match on Wednesday, the actual anniversary, because they were worried the crowd might not respect it. Thankfully they have thought better of that and now, even if some of England's supporters choose to disgrace themselves, the FA themselves have not shown the ultimate disrespect in not having a memorial at all.

Of course the FA would have been happy not to bother and thereby spare themselves the potential embarrassment which some England supporters may now cause them. If there is any significant level of disturbance then they might find themselves being challenged to take action which is obviously a situation they would like to avoid.

They are now past masters of making the right noises and then sweeping things under the carpet when nobody's looking, however, so they will know how to handle the situation if things do go wrong.

Manchester City also wanted United to swap silence for applause when the two teams meet next week, no doubt so that the City fans who want to jeer the dead would be allowed to do so and the club themselves would not have to face any unpleasant questions or publicity.

If some England fans do not have the common decency to remain silent for one minute in memory of a tragedy that distressed the whole of football and cost the country one of its' best chances of winning a World Cup then we should all be aware of the fact and share in the shame.

If some Manchester City fans would prefer to desecrate the memory of eight Manchester United players who died fifty years ago in a horrific plane crash rather than honour them and the one Manchester City player who also perished then we should all be aware of the fact and share in the shame.

Of course it is worthwhile looking at the reasons why this situation has occured. The people who would consider denegrating the memory of the Busby Babes no doubt feel there are justifiable reasons for such actions.

Well, one reason and that is a dislike, perhaps a hatred, of Manchester United Football Club. Talk to a United hater in a pub or go onto an internet forum and they will give you the reasons for this hatred.

In many respects such a feeling is understandable although it is also obvious, when faced with the current situation, that such feelings have gone too far.

If you are not a United fan then there is always a good chance you are going to be against them. They have the biggest crowds and have been far and away the most successful English side of the past twenty years.

Rival fans, therefore, are likely to feel a degree of bitterness and, perhaps, jealousy.

It is also true that, while much will no doubt be made of anybody breaking the silence during a tribute to the Babes from those of a United persuasion, their own fans ritually abuse all their major rivals every week in a series of terrace chants that range from the gently goading to the downright offensive.

If United's supporters think it is ok to build a bonfire consisting of City fans and Scousers then why should they expect those very people to stand and remember the players who died at Munich?

The answer to that one is, to quote James Stewart when Rock Hudson wants to know why he should stop shooting at a bunch of fleeing cowboys in Where The River Bends, "If you don't know I can't tell you."

Respect for others is something that is disappearing throughout society as well as football and both are in serious danger if the trend continues.

Rivalry in football is necessary and good. There is nothing wrong in disliking United, wanting them to lose and shouting derogatory songs about them as long as they don't overstep the bounds of, I suppose, acceptable bad taste (which is how I would describe most of United's chants).

Many fans do not like United but they must also realise just how much of their own passion for football derives from this animosity. Without United, even for those who don't like them, football would be a far less exciting thing.

Without having United to play twice a season life would be far more dull for City and their fans. In fact every team in the Premier League, and their fans, probably look forward to the two games with United far more than any other except their own local derby fixture.

All football teams need a rival, someone to concentrate their passions even more fully onto their own team. Manchester United provide more clubs than any other with a ready made "enemy".

This in itself should, however, also demand a degree of respect.

These considerations, however, are only relevent towards the modern Manchester United. None of these factors have anything whatsoever to do with the 1958 United side that were actually on that plane in Munich. This is something that the modern fan, especially the one who might want to vent their hatred at this time, should try and comprehend.

Among the anti-United brigade seems to be an opinion that the Busby Babes are one of the major reasons behind the clubs' modern day popularity and that their death has acted as a catalyst for the clubs' rise to the top of world football.

This is surely nonsense.

There was tremendous sympathy towards the club from all quarters when the crash took place and many United fans who had not been quite so diligent in attending matches before the disaster were no doubt roused into making the effort in the immediate aftermath.

But there has been a lot of water under the bridge since 1958, however. Having lost an entire team, which included the nucleus of the best team in the country, United struggled for several years to regain their footing at the top of English football.

Under Matt Busby they just about managed it and crowned their achievements with the 1968 European Cup win but beyond the glorious, fabled trio of Charlton, Best and Law this was still a fairly average United side, a fact that was clearly demonstrated by the clubs' remarkable collapse, culminating in relegation to Division Two in 1974, when Charlton and Law had reached their sell by dates and Best self-destructed.

Of course United returned to the top flight immediately but the club was restricted to the odd cup win to keep their army of fans content and they suffered a gruelling time in the 1980's living in the shadow of the all conquering Liverpool sides.

Alex Ferguson arrived and looked set to follow in the footsteps of Atkinson, Sexton, Docherty and the rest in failing to awaken the slumbering giant until everything suddenly clicked into place for no apparent reason.

When that happened it had absolutely nothing to do with the Busby Babes and United fans, by that time, probably wanted to forget about them rather than glory in their memory as they desperately waited for a team worthy of succeeding them.

The supporters of other teams who think that the modern day success of United is built upon the emotional impetus given by the Munich air disaster are completely deluded. United would actually be an even bigger club today had the crash not taken place and the teams' roll of honour would be considerably longer.

The Babes were taking control of English football at the time of the crash just as surely as Ferguson's team did in the 1990's and had they lived to play alongside the likes of Law and Best then they would surely have dominated the 1960's as well.

Anybody attempting to justify disrespect of the Babes by associating them with the modern Manchester United is completely missing the point.

The modern fan should also be aware that, unlike their modern day equivalent, everybody loved the Busby Babes.

Just as today everybody wanted to beat that Manchester United side, they were the benchmark, but the men who comprised that team played the game in the most thrilling and sporting way possible and away from the pitch were perfectly normal, happy, level headed young men who had earned the respect and admiration of an entire nation.

They were cheered and applauded wherever they went and they took their occasional defeats and setbacks without acrimony or excuse.

They helped provide the backbone of an England side that had taken on and beaten all the leading nations in the world and looked set to mount a real challenge for the 1958 World Cup and they had boldly led English clubs into the new, exciting arena of European competition despite the disapproval of the Football League.

This spirit of adventure ended up costing eight of that squad their lives but it was not their deaths which made them immortal, it was the football they had played beforehand.

It was for their football that the England of 1958 loved and respected the Busby Babes and it is their football that the supporters of 2008 should also be able to stand and silently respect for sixty seconds before returning to sadder things that make football important for them now.

Munich58 A memorial to those who died in the air crash.