ON THIS DAY in 1958, a plane crash in Munich all but wiped out Manchester United’s famous Busby Babes.
Eight of Matt Busby’s young league champions lost their lives when their plane crashed while attempting to take off from Munich airport. In all, 23 people were killed.
The team were on their way back from successful European Cup quarter-final tie in Belgrade when the plane stopped for re-fuelling in Germany. Busby would eventually recover and again take his seat on the bench.
The Scot then led the club on a decade-long quest for the European title, culminating in a final defeat of Benfica in 1968. Fellow survivor Bobby Charlton would score a goal at Wembley.
Today, as always, the disaster will be remembered under the ‘Munich clock’ at Old Trafford.
Here’s some archive pictures from the Press Association:
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
Munich Air Disaster
To mark the 50-year anniversary in 2008, Sky Sports produced this video tribute featuring Old Trafford legends like Denis Law, Nobby Stiles, Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs.
YouTube credit: dotsy129
I love reading stories like this. For all the fantastic players that have come through the schools system, the majority started off life in the club system. It’s a testament to the players, coaches, parents, committees who put in the hard work in keeping these clubs going
Great story. There are large areas of the country that are open to this type of development.
@kieran horgan: Completely agree. When youngsters playing in less traditional areas see those a few years ahead of them feature in provincial and national squads, it will hopefully boost rugby in those areas. Look at Munster and West Cork, in the last number of years alone there’s been the 2 Coombes, 2 Wycherleys, Crowley, Hodnett, Hurley. Plenty of untapped areas to be explored
@Niall Boyle: Farmer strength is a term often used. You know what it means when you’ve played against it be it in Gaelic or Rugby. It would be fertile ground for rugby players if the seeds are planted particularly forwards. It’s also part of what makes NZ rugby
@Michael Corkery: farmer strength is something that applies only in the amatuer arena. Kids from farming backgrounds in NZ( also SA and Aus) who are decent at rugby with a view to the Pro’s, generally head off to boarding school for secondary, unless they’re commutable distance to bigger towns/cities. They develop physically using modern development practices, not shifting bales by hand…
@Sea Point: True, the bales of hay and tractor tyres have been replaced by dumb bells and Creatine.
@Sea Point: rubbish, certain people have natural strength which has been acquired during generations and their youth as they needed to have it for their livelihood. Of course, that alone is a base strength that is built on when they get into a more professional setup be it a private school or academy.
@Niall Boyle: and Mike Ross before them
Great to see, jj returning and possibly 2 good lads getting into the academy will be great for munster and the kingdom.
@Treaty Jim: would love to see Jack Daly get a run without injury disruption also
@Niall Boyle: totally agree.
@Niall Boyle: Doesn’t look great for Jack, ‘last chance saloon’ maybe.
The Blackrock catchment area is pretty large…
Kudos to their scouts, but I thought that there was a Leinster School’s rule about how long a player had to be in a school before playing for their SCT?
@Phil O’ Meara: Kerry is part of cork too. These powerful schools always find a way around these “rules”
@Phil O’ Meara: Would be interesting to know what discussions took place that resulted in O’Sullivan ending up at Blackrock, rather than another Leinster school or a Cork or Limerick school. However I think the rule to which you refer (and stopped Dylan McNeice playing for St Michael’s this year) is to stop Leinster schools poaching from each other. The previous school can give permission for their former pupil to play for his new one. Doesn’t apply in this case where it seems that everyone’s a winner
@Kevin Ryan: Everyone bar Terenure!
Jaysus Whitehouse is a painful ref