February 21 – Duncan Edwards Passes Away

TWO weeks ago we brought you the story of the Munich air disaster, a tragedy that killed seven Manchester United players instantly. The shining light of that team was Duncan Edwards, United’s twenty one year old wing-half who died from his injuries today in 1958, 15 days after the crash.

Ask anyone of a certain age and they will tell you that Duncan Edwards would have undoubtedly been one of the greatest players England has ever produced. “George Best was something special, as was Pele and Maradona, but in my mind Duncan was much better in terms of all-round ability and skill,” said Tommy Docherty years later.

Born in Dudley, Edwards quickly rose through the ranks, representing his local and district teams, as well as finding time to be an integral part of his school’s morris dancing team. We don’t imagine that many of United’s current line-up shared Big Dunc’s extra-curricular activities. He soon became captain of the England schoolboy team and attracted the attention of the big clubs of the day such as United, Wolves and Aston Villa. Matt Busby went to visit a 15-year old Edwards at his home and convinced the youngster to sign on as an amateur for the Old Trafford side.

Edwards quickly settled in, becoming a staple of the youth team that won the first ever FA Youth Cup in 1953, also making his first-team debut that season when he became the youngster ever player to play in the English top-flight. Two more FA Youth Cups followed as Busby began to integrate this successful group into his aging first-team squad and they were soon to be known as the ‘Busby Babes’.

Off the pitch, Edwards was a very private individual, although he did find time to write a book entitled “Tackle Soccer This Way” and appeared in adverts for Dextrosol energy tablets. He was however, he was once fined two weeks wages by his club, but not for antics like last year’s United Christmas party, as in those days riding your bicycle without lights was just about the worst thing that footballers got up to.

By the end of the 1956/57 season Edwards had already racked-up 100 league appearances for United and had two Championship and an FA medal to his name. His physical presence, versatility and level of authority on the pitch showed a maturity beyond his years and lead to him becoming a regular in the England team and the favourite to replace Billy Wright as captain of the Three Lions.

In a perfect world we’d like to go on and tell you about his commanding role in England’s 1958 World Cup triumph, or Edwards leading out the national side at Wembley in 1966 as English football formed a dynasty with Edwards and the ‘Busby Babes’ at the heart of it, but alas, we cannot. Edwards survived the initial crash with multiple leg breaks, fractured ribs and severely damaged kidneys. As he clung to life he kept a sense of humour, asking assistant manager Jimmy Murphy: “What time is the kickoff against Wolves, Jimmy? I mustn’t miss that match”. In the end his kidneys failed and English football had lost one of it’s future greats. In the words of his friend and team-mate Bobby Charlton his death was “the biggest single tragedy ever to happen to Manchester United and English football”.

See the big man for yourself here and come back tomorrow another footballing history lesson.