Sad that we need to thank people for behaving decently!

This week was the 50th anniversary of the tragic Munich air crash which killed eight of the finest footballers in Britain, members of the Championship winning Manchester United team - known as the 'Busby Babes' on account of their youth - returning from a match against Red Star Belgrade. The plane had stopped at Munich to refuel and took off in icy conditions. It never cleared the runway due to, as it transpired, ice on the wings, hit a house and a fuel truck which exploded. In addition to the players, six members of the United coaching staff, eight of Britain's top sporting journalists, and four of the crew, were also killed. Their manager Matt Busby hovered between life and death for weeks before finally pulling through.



The disaster, back in February 1958, shook the football world and of course particularly in Britain the shock was felt most keenly. Ironically it changed the perception of Manchester United for ever and the consequences of that have been very divisive. At the time of the crash they were simply England's best team playing in Manchester. After the crash United were raised to almost God like status and, again ironically, the worst disaster ever suffered by an English team was the making of them. They became world superstars with supporters all over the globe, the money poured in and, along with Real Madrid in Spain, became just about the richest football team on the planet.

Of course any such elevation has its downside and, for those not among the worshipers of the 'new Deity', initial sympathy over the crash turned to hatred, and United soon became, outside its fan base, the most despised team in England. Nowhere was this more true than in their own city of Manchester where their rivals, Manchester City, had long strived to keep pace with United and whose supporters always seemed to live in the shadow of the illustrious 'Reds'. Once the United 'brand' hit world superstardom, the anger and jealousy of City supporters reached new levels of intensity and that has remained to this day.

On Sunday, the very week of the 50th Anniversary of Munich, the fixture list drew the two Manchester rivals together in a local 'derby'.

For weeks the press, police, United management had all been quoted as frantically trying to get the game postponed for fear that City fans would disrupt the one minute silence planned to honour the dead players. The fearful predictions almost reached fever pitch but still the game - and the tribute - went ahead.

As it turned out , the City fans put aside their hatred of the opposition, and to a man(and woman) totally respected the one minute's silence in honour of United's dead heroes. You couldn't hear a pin drop inside that stadium.

And that's surely how it should be. It is a pretty sad indictment on the tribalism which afflicts British football that first we should live in fearful anticipation of booing, jeering and catcalls during a respectful silence for the dead,then when that doesn't happen, that the authorities gratefully publish their thanks to City fans for NOT disrupting the occasion.

Surely thats only common matter of fact decency isn't it? The day someone justifies football rivalry as an excuse for such conduct , I'll be certain that our sense of perspective has totally disappeared.