"Munich Air Disaster 1958" #27 in Sports Illustrated All Time Top 40 Sports Songs

This week's Sports Illustrated lists the Alltime Top 40 Sports Songs. "Munich Air Disaster 1958" comes in at number 27... one of the oddest Morrissey appearances to date.

27 MUNICH AIR DISASTER 1958

Morrissey, 2004

Think about the shock it would be in this country if an NFL or MLB team's plane went down midseason. That's what happened to English football when Manchester United's plane crashed during takeoff on an icy runway during a refueling stop after Man U played Red Star Belgrade in the 1958 European Cup. Over half the players were killed, and others were injured too severely to play again. The overwrought emotion Morrissey brings to the song makes a larger point about fandom and the tragedy of athletes dying young.
 
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Oh, I know anon, I know.
 
"Boxers" should be on this list.
 
One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,
Eight great football stalwarts conceded victory.
Eight men will never play again, who met disaster there,
The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester.

The Busby Babes were flying home, returning from Belgrade,
This great United family all masters of their trade.
The pilot of the aircraft, the skipper Captain Thain,
Three times tried to take off and twice turned back again.

The third time down the runway disaster followed close,
There was slush upon that runway and the aircraft never rose.
It ploughed into the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.
And eight of that team were killed when the blazing wreckage burned.

Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor, who were capped for England's side,
And Ireland's Liam Whelan and England's Geoff Bent died.
Mark Jones and Eddie Coleman and David Pegg also,
They all lost their lives as it ploughed on through the snow.

Big Duncan he went too, with an injury to his brain,
And Ireland's brave Jack Blanchflower will never play again.
The great Matt Busby lay there, the father of this team,
Three long months passed by before he saw his team again.

The trainer, coach and secretary and three members of the crew,
Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew,
And one of them was Big Swifty who we will ne'er forget,
The finest English 'keeper that ever graced a net.

England's finest football team it's record truly great,
It's proud success mocked by this cruel turn of fate.
Eight men will never play again who met disaster there,
The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester.
 
Re: Article: "Munich Air Disaster 1958" #27 in Sports Illustrated All Time Top 40 Spo

Um, I don't think you do. Your comment was stupid.

Not so
 
I think it dispels any myths that Morrissey isnt a united fan. He is red to the core.
 
Re: Article: "Munich Air Disaster 1958" #27 in Sports Illustrated All Time Top 40 Spo

I think it dispels any myths that Morrissey isnt a united fan. He is red to the core.

How to miss the point entirely...
 
Re: Article: "Munich Air Disaster 1958" #27 in Sports Illustrated All Time Top 40 Spo

I think it dispels any myths that Morrissey isnt a united fan. He is red to the core.

He is definitely a Man U fan. If you're in any doubt just refer to The Importance of Being Morrissey documentary:

Interviewer: "Do you still follow football?"

Morrissey: "No"

Case closed. Definitely a United fan.
 
"One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germanee,
Eight great football stalwarts conceded victoreee..."

So begins the worst poem I've ever not bothered reading.
 
His dad had trials for Man United and he has talked about walking hand in hand with his dad to see United play. Out of marketing and promotional reasons he chose not to associate himself too much with the club as that could scare off potential fans who support other clubs. This can be seen as the same strategy as the one where he moved to USA and flirted with the hispanics to secure a new fanbase and a new income source. Morrissey is a marketing product just like Coca Cola or Pepsi.
He was more than happy to play about with my Man United scarf onstage during "roy's keen" at the 1997 gig in Solna, Sweden. Journalists wrote about it and how he bowed for my scarf as I held it up high when he walked onstage. His love for United is about the past when he was a kid and a teenager and as music took over he of course had less time to follow it. He did talk about United in the early part of the new millenium as he met the whole squad at a horse race ground.
City fans who like the man should lighten up a little and just live with the fact that he came from a United area and was a "paddy" which made it natural to follow United as City fans were all racist at the time and did not offer any irish people a job. This dark period of history when City even had a german nazi as a goalkeeper is something City fans rarely own up to but I have met those that do. Today there are plenty of irish people supporting City but if you know your history....

Urban in Sweden (Champ19ns)
 

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