50th Anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster

Browsing the back pages of sports websites is a favourite pastime of mine. That's where you learn the really interesting tidbits that can amaze friends and bore women.

For instance, last night I learned that Manchester City and Manchester United honoured the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. I had never heard of the Munich air disaster, so I decided to look it up on the internet.

On February 6th 1958, returning from a match against Red Star Belgrade in the tournament play for the European Cup, Manchester United, their families, reporters and other members of their entourage was onboard a British European Airways Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador plane. Due to slush on the runway, the plane couldn't get to proper take-off speed and instead went off the runway. The plane's wing tore through the side of a house, and then the plane smashed into trees as well as a storage hut which was full of gasoline and tires. The hut exploded.

Of the forty passengers and four crew, twenty-three were killed including eight members of ManU, and all twenty-one survivors were injured.

Many of those survivors owe a debt of gratitude to Manchester United's goalkeeper at the time, North Irishman Harry Gregg. Gregg, who had managed to free himself from his chair restraints and slip through a hole torn in the fuselage, launched a one man rescue operation beginning with Dennis Violett and Bobby Charlton. Although he was sure that both were dead, he pulled them out of the wreckage by the waistbands of their trousers and then continued pulling more people from the wreckage. He succeeded in saving the lives of Jackie Blanchflower and club manager Sir Matt Busby as well as Vera Lukic, the pregnant wife of a Yugoslavian diplomat and her daughter Vesna, amongst others.

Although most of the team spent the rest of the season in hospitals or at home convalescing, Busby was able to prevent the club from slipping into relegation, and brought the club back stronger then ever for the 1960s, peaking in 1965 when Manchester United won the Football Association championship, and in 1966 when Bobby Charlton led the English national side to a World Cup championship.

Many were concerned that the 50th anniversary celebration would be marred by the misbehavior of Manchester City fans disrupting the ceremonies, but the ceremony was peacefully, and respectfully completed.

Relegation - - protecting the EPL

In North America, we believe we have passionate fans. While it is true we take our sports pretty seriously, we are nothing compared to the football fans in England.

For instance, Liverpool Football Club's American owners successfully refinanced themselves. And the fans of Liverpool are angry about it. There's increasing backlash over co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet Jr.'s decision to refinance the team and, gasp, refurbish the stadium. Gillet also owns the Montreal Canadiens, the most successful hockey club in the history of the sport, and yet we don't hear of any Habs fans protesting the sound business practices of Mr. Gillet.

It reminds me of the ruckus caused over Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, bought up the stock to Manchester United.

Manchester United had been a publicly traded company, and Malcolm Glazer was able to arrange the purchase of several large portions of the ownership. Fans responded by forming their own association to pool their resources and buy up stock to block him. Anti-Glazer websites sprang up over night.

Much like the Hicks and Gillet's refinancing, the July 2006 refinancing of ManU caused waves in the fan community.

The fan's concerns that the teams are going to suffer, or worse yet, fold, are really ill-founded. Unlike North American leagues, the system of relegation means that for a team to make money, they need to not just stay competitive, but stay top-of-the-tables competitive. Look at Manchester United. Glazer began his take-over in 2003. As of today, United is in first place in the English Premiere League -- tied with nemesis Arsenal at 54 points. However, the Red Devils have the edge with seventeen wins to the Gunners sixteen.

Yes, men like Glazer, Hicks, and Gillet are first and foremost businessmen. But European football fans have to relax. Thanks to their system of relegation and ranked leagues, for these men to make money, they need to make sure that their teams are constantly competitive.