R.I.P to the 23 lost in Munich

[scotty123]

Dont wana seem disrespectful but its been 55 years.. It seems a bit "hey look at us" now. Fed up of havinf it pushed in my face everywhere i look.

Agreed, minutes silence at Wembley tonight, OTT, LET IT GO, Rags have made their name on it

 

[Eccles Blue]

The Torino air crash actually killed more people but is never really talked about much and is just remembered by the club, it doesn't get this worldwide attention that Munich does. Munich was a horrible tragedy but make no mistake that United have deliberately used that tragedy to help them become the biggest club in England. Gary James' latest book talks about it a little. All tragedies should be remembered and mourned but none should be exploited.

RIP to them all.

The genuine tragedy of the Munich disaster has been turned into a constant and ongoing marketing / promotional campaign for the pursuit of money and wealth.

While I tend to agree, I think the "Diana effect" has something to do with it too. 30 years ago United used to commemorate Munich but there was far less of a fuss made of it compared to today.

Yes I agree with the fact that there was far less fuss made 20 years or so ago and I am always appalled by the way the quiet neighbours live on this memory.

For me I remember that the players were young men who had their whole lives ahead of them. Amongst them were players who had attended the same dance halls as I did and who were closer to the ordinary fans than they are today. That is one reason why I mourn, the other is that during the days after the crash while the news was coming through about how the survivors were faring, as the office junior I was tasked to keep an eye on the updates that our local newsagents were putting in their back bedroom window. Remember there was no 24 hour TV contact. So I was the first to know and the day Duncan Edwards died I couldn't tell the men in the machine rooms and had to get one of my older colleagues to go down there with me. That was the very first time I had seen grown men cry.

So whilst I understand, and respect, the views expressed throughout this thread I will always remember and pray on this day as well as posting RIP whenever the thread is posted. I didn't start the thread, although it did cross my mind early this morning, because it was a personal thing but once it was posted I felt I had to show my respect.

Sorry for the long post, sorry for boring you but when I think seriously about it, I have had an extra 55 years of life that those poor lads, and the rest of the passengers who died, did not get and I am grateful for that.

Thank you.




p.s. just to be a little less 'gloomy': The Boys in Blue never give in and We fight 'till the end, we fight 'till the end and we WILL win the Premiership again this year!! :-)

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

It appears that I see this differently to many people on this thread, so here is my two penneth.

It would, naturally, be unusual to hold this particular disaster to be of greater reverence than any other that has happened since. All are terrible tragedies in their own right to the people effected by them.

But what a tragedy can do is galvanise us and makes us come together. We are all human, and we all feel the same emotions, we might claim to bleed blue but we bleed just like the rest of them. From a purely diplomatic stand point, something like this gives us common ground with our enemies. It reminds us that we are one and the same.

Do I remember Munich? No I don't, I'm 22, but what I do recognise is an opportunity to reach out to those we spend all year-round hating so that we may remind ourselves that it's just a sport at the end of the day.

So if it helps build a bridge, some mutual respect and some common ground, then I will offer my condolences with dignity. It's not exactly a lot of effort to stand silent for a moment and think. Not just for Frank Swift, but for all of them as human beings with families that live on to this day.

 

[BezzMCFC]

Dont wana seem disrespectful but its been 55 years.. It seems a bit "hey look at us" now. Fed up of havinf it pushed in my face everywhere i look.

Agreed, minutes silence at Wembley tonight, OTT, LET IT GO, Rags have made their name on it

Dear god...

 

[CheethamHillBlue]

Differing opinions, possibly due to the different ages of posters, living locally or in a different area. My personal view is MUFC have milked a tragedy for all it is worth over the years, although i'm sure some will disagree with that comment. The shameful 2008 AIG banner told us everything about this club and their attitude to Feb 6th 1958.
Ferguson is a very clever man (although a twat) and he knows by appearing on Football Focus this Saturday to speak about what happened 55 years ago will continue to generate funds into the cash cow that is MUFC.
He obviously has conveniently forgotten his refusal to speak to the BBC for years. He HAS to speak to the beeb after a match but didn't need to give an interview with them, unless it benefits United.
I'd love to see if redissue's current headline is "659m Grief Junkies pay homage to an event well before most were born"

 

[manimanc]

Dont wana seem disrespectful but its been 55 years.. It seems a bit "hey look at us" now. Fed up of havinf it pushed in my face everywhere i look.

Agreed, minutes silence at Wembley tonight, OTT, LET IT GO, Rags have made their name on it

Dear god...

who art in heaven...
hallowed be thy name....

 

[Vienna_70]

I understand Mancunians who were around at the time, those who either had some sort of affiliation with the team, the players or the city in the 1950's, paying their annual respects to those who died in the air disaster. I, however, was born in 1977. Obviously I don't remember anything about the crash, or the players, as I wasn't born, my mum was only 1 in 1958! The thing I struggle to comprehend is people under the age of, say, 50 who make a huge deal about this (50 allows for those with actual memories of the event, as well as those who grew up in it's aftermath). Obviously it was a tragedy, but, in the grand scheme of things, it was a plane crash. There have been numerous plane crashes since 1958. In 1967 there were 72 people killed in a plane that crashed on Stockport and in 1985 there were 53 people killed in a plance crash at Manchester Airport, so this isn't even the most recent crash to affect the people of Greater Manchester.

Paying a moments respect, if you're a Manchester United fan, or someone old enough to remember the event and those involved, is perfectly natural, however I fail to see why this event should have any real impact or importance on those who don't fall into one of those categories. I'm not 100% convinced United fans under the age of 50 have all that much to be interested in either if I'm honest. Yes it involved their club so paying respect is understandable, but they didn't remember the players involved or anything like that. How would I feel if it had been City who had been affected? Similarly. I'd keep quiet and respectful when the subject came up but, ultimately, it's something that happen almost 2 decades before I was born, to people I don't know. I have the same opinion when an ex player or manager dies, I'm respectful but, at the end of the day, I have no recollection at all of Neil Young, or Malcolm Allison, so it clearly doesn't affect me as much as those old enough to remember them. Some day the players I watched as a child will begin to pass away, and I'm sure those deaths will affect me far more than those of yesteryear.

Matty, that is a lovely post.

Except for one glaring error.

I am 50 and I was born in 1962. Four years AFTER the air crash.

If you meant 60, then fair enough, but no 50 year-old will ever remember it.

 

[Deleted member 52846]

Terrible tragedy felt by the whole of Manchester at the time.

For the younger fans who may not appreciate the first line, City lost one of our own in the crash,possibly the best keeper we have ever had, Frank Swift

Indeed, he was a reporter covering the match for The News of the World.

His family live in Northenden and are Blues.

 

[MCC]

RIP to all that lost their lives on that tragic day.

 

[hertsblue]

Differing opinions, possibly due to the different ages of posters, living locally or in a different area. My personal view is MUFC have milked a tragedy for all it is worth over the years, although i'm sure some will disagree with that comment. The shameful 2008 AIG banner told us everything about this club and their attitude to Feb 6th 1958.
Ferguson is a very clever man (although a twat) and he knows by appearing on Football Focus this Saturday to speak about what happened 55 years ago will continue to generate funds into the cash cow that is MUFC.
He obviously has conveniently forgotten his refusal to speak to the BBC for years. He HAS to speak to the beeb after a match but didn't need to give an interview with them, unless it benefits United.
I'd love to see if redissue's current headline is "659m Grief Junkies pay homage to an event well before most were born"

remember also when for the 50th anniversary we agreed to wear retro shirts with no sponsers on. Then as the teams walked out with a kid by thier side, the Utd kids wearing the kit has sponsers logo on thier kits. Ours didnt. Dont miss a trick do they.
RIP to all that lost thier lives and for special occassions ie 50th anniversary of course that should be remembered but they do seem milk it abit