Wembley Jeers

It is not hard to describe to the uninitiated exactly what the Munich Air Crash meant to sport as a whole. Without a shadow of a doubt, it was the worst sporting disaster of all time and its poignancy still remains and even continues to grow. And yet the minute silence at Wembley on Wednesday was not entirely observed.

It is a shame because what those stupid English fans (the Swiss kept the silence perfectly) fail to see is that it was only Manchester United's loss, it was not only the loss of Manchester, it was a loss for the whole of England. The Manchester City fans understood this as they kept an immaculate silence for the derby day. Upon the doomed aircraft was not only the future of English football - the best team in England at the time - but also those who had fulfilled their promise and were held in high esteem through the land.

I am talking, of course, about Frank Swift, the former England and Man City goalkeeper who also lost his life on that fateful Thursday 6^th February 1958. Unlike the Busby babes who died or were too injured to play professional football ever again, he had served his country 33 times (14 during WW2 and 19 in peacetime). Here is where some fail to realise just what sport lost in the deaths of Duncan Edwards and co.

Sir Matt Busby's faith in youth meant that those who died remained unfulfilled talent. It is alright Sir Bobby Charlton saying that Edwards was the only player who ever made him feel inferior, but many football fans outside of Manchester believe that the talent of the team has been exaggerated ever since.

To these fans, there is a simple truth that should have made them stop their foul jeering at Wembley. The much-idolised Bobby Moore OBE who captained England to their only World Cup win would not have done had the crash not happened. Duncan Edwards who played in the same position, and who was a natural leader, would have taken his place. He would have been 29 at the time and at the peak of his powers. Not only this, it is more than feasible to suggest that England would also have won the 1962 World Cup and probably done very well in 1958.