February 6, 1958.

Who says I don’t have a heart? Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. In honor of the 23 victims of the crash, today’s bloggin’ will recount and re-examine the disaster, which took the lives of eight Manchester United players.

* A quick note as we start, for those who are already mistaken, the Munich air disaster is not when several Israeli Olympians were murdered, and then Steven Spielberg made a movie about it, with the Hulk in it.

The team was known as the “Busby Babes”. It was so nick-named, because of head coach Matt Busby. His Manchester United squad consisted of several players who were in their early 20s, this was quite remarkable for the time. It was very uncommon to have so many players of such a “young” age, the irony is that today a young footballer’s age is around 16. Prior to the Munich tragedy, The Busby Babes had claimed two consecutive league championships, a runners-up place in the 1957 FA Cup final, five back-to-back FA Youth Cups between 1953-57, a place in the 1957 European Cup semi-finals and the same again in 1958.

Unfortunately, their European success would directly lead to the Munich air disaster. Before placing any blame, let's get the facts out of the way. The Red Devils were attempting to win their third consecutive league title, still alive in the FA Cup, and were also facing a European Cup quarter-final. United had defeated Red Star Belgrade at Old Trafford 2-1, in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. Back home, Wolves were top the league, but before facing Wolves, United first had the task of finishing their tie in Belgrade.

United would start strong against the home side leading 3-0, but Red Star would fight back to draw the match at 3-3. United would still go through to the semi final on the aggregate 5-4. The players would have cocktails at the British Embassy that night. They would board BEA Flight 609 the next day.

The flight would successfully arrive at Munich-Riem airport, in West Germany, for refueling. It would be the planes final destination. The plane would attempt to take off twice unsuccessfully. After the second unsuccessful attempt, some of the players would telegram home that they would not arrive home that night. Duncan Edwards sent his landlady a telegram, which read: 'All flights cancelled. Returning home tomorrow. Duncan.'

At 3:04pm Captain James Thain would attempted a third take off. The slush and snow on the runway kept the plane from reaching take off speed. The plane would crash through the airport's perimeter fence and into an unoccupied house. Seven players died in the crash: Geoff Bent (25), Roger Byrne (28), Eddie Colman (21), Mark Jones (24), David Pegg (22), Tommy Taylor (26) and Liam 'Billy' Whelan (22). Duncan Edwards would survive the crash, but die in hospital February 21st. The teams “father” Matt Busby would fight for his life over the following weeks. His condition so grave, he would be read his last rites twice at Munich's Rechts der Isar Hospital.

A ravaged United squad would make it to the FA Cup Final, only to loose to Bolton Wanderers. They would be defeated by AC Milan in the European Cup. As a mark of respect, UEFA would invite United to compete in the competition the following year, United would decline the offer.

Most talk always refers to the loss of such young lives, however, my perspective is always slanted. At the time, the FA (Football Association) was quite opposed to the gaining popularity of the European Cup, they felt that it “under minded” domestic competitions. Dismissing any appeals to clear any congestion in the league calendar, the FA hoped to force United’s not to compete in the European Cup. Under new league rules any team competing in Europe had to be back in England a “full 24 hours before their next domestic fixture”. Had the FA not been so concerned with its own importance, United would not have had to charter that fateful flight from British European Airways.

Sorry for the somber bloggin’ today, I promise some fun tomorrow.