Legendary German footballer Karl-Heinz Rummenigge looked stunned. It was 3pm on 6 February 2018 and Bayern Munich’s chairman stood on a small platform with 1,500 Manchester United fans gathered around him in the tiny Manchesterplatz.

In the freezing winter temperatures, Rummenigge got up to speak in this wealthy Munich suburb of Trudering by the old airport where the aircraft carrying the best young team in world football had skidded off a runway and crashed over half a century before.

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“Manchester United became a reference point in my life as a footballer and of chairman of Bayern Munich,” he told the listening fans.

“Manchester United are more than wins, defeats, titles and lost trophies. Manchester United represents unconditional devotion, great joy and deep mourning. To this day I’m impressed by how the memory of those who were lost is passed on by fans. They provide a wonderful example of how to honour those who are no longer with us – by never forgetting them.”

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The crowd applauded loudly. They’d travelled to Bavaria for the 60th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. Mostly from Manchester, their ranks also included travellers from Perth in Australia to Plymouth in England, from Norway to Malta. A lad in his twenties showed his newly completed tattoo dedicated to the Busby Babes covering his entire right leg, front and back. On his thigh were the words, “A broken heart. A broken dream. A broken plane. A broken team. No words were said. A silent vow. We loved you then. We loved you now.”

At Old Trafford thousands had assembled, including the entire first team and José Mourinho in a hooded top. There were speeches, footage on screens and everywhere deep emotion. The families of the Munich disaster victims and survivors were invited. Liverpool sent legendary player Kenny Dalglish, Manchester City former hero Mike Summerbee. Nice touches.

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In Belgrade, Serbia, from where the ill-fated charter aircraft took off before stopping to refuel in Germany, Nicky Butt and his United Under-19 squad met staff of the Belgrade-based British embassy, Red Star officials and Vladica Popović, who played in the game against United in 1958, before taking part in a commemorative match of their own. Some fans from Manchester had travelled to Belgrade to watch them. Other Belgrade Reds were there – one was dismayed that, of the thousands of young MUFC fans in the Serbian capital, none could drag themselves away from a screen to attend a football game on their doorstep, but perhaps it wasn’t that simple.

The 60th anniversary was significant, just as the 75th anniversary of D-Day will be in June. United sent club ambassador and former player Denis Irwin to Munich last year and I bumped into him outside the pub closest to the crash site. The landlord, who has become a friend of many United fans over the years, was delighted as his pub was packed at noon on a midweek February afternoon. There were queues to get in.

“It’s a fantastic turnout. I’m overawed by it,” said Irwin. “As players, we were very aware of the disaster. I grew up in Ireland, where Manchester United are very popular. I heard the stories, but when you join the club you realise what an important part of the history it is. The way the club came back, with Sir Matt Busby and Jimmy Murphy and the romance of winning the European Cup ten years later, shows the belief that Matt had.”

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Wind back 25 years and there wasn’t much of a commemoration on the day. Outside the Munich clock outside Old Trafford at six minutes past three and there were a mere half a dozen men paying their respects. Cliff Butler, United’s historian, was always one of them. That’s all changed.

Mourning Munich has become increasingly important for many United fans who have no memory of the Busby Babes. There was a testimonial game in 1998, 40 years after the disaster, with money going to the families of those involved. For the 50th anniversary a commemorative display was installed in the Munich tunnel under the South Stand. Travel has become easier and cheaper and hundreds make the annual pilgrimage to Munich, where they’ve gotten to know local publicans and politicians. They’ve raised money for Bavarian charities, they marvel at the work of the Red Docs, who take care of the shrines left by supporters. They want a permanent encased shrine so that the memorabilia left by fans can be protected.

A simple field cross marked the site at the start of this century, but further memorials funded by supporters have been laid, plus one at Bayern Munich’s own museum. And the triangular square is now called the Manchesterplatz.

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Fans liaised with the Rechts der Isar hospital – where the injured were treated – and the City Of Munich. Mayor Dieter Reiter also addressed the crowd along with Rummenigge, who proved quite a character. Tony O’Neill, a United fan, gave an impassioned speech.

United fans had raised over £12,000 to have a bench made for the site, with the rest donated to the Libero and Buntkickgut youth football projects in Munich. United fans also raise money so that a couple of younger fans can go to Munich each year.

Last year, I spoke to Nurse Weber, 86, who was sitting on the new bench. She told of how she’d helped tend to the injured players after the crash and even smiled as she said, “I remember those English boys [in the hospital]. They complained about our German tea.”

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There are plenty of United fans in Munich right now. Many went to matches home and away in the Seventies, Eighties or Nineties and, for whatever reason, no longer go to games. They’re reconnecting with their former community. There’s an undeniable social element, but the trips also engender goodwill, and Rummenigge, who raised a laugh by saying United were “lucky” in their 1999 Champions League win against Bayern, thinks the disaster helped heal wounds.

“We all know that relations between England and Germany were not at their best at the time of the crash, 13 years after the Second World War,” he said. “But I have the impression that, in the darkest of days for Manchester United, the selfless support and sympathy offered by Munich, in particularly the German doctors at the hospital, the residents and also FC Bayern Munich made an important social political and contribution to restore those relations.”

Grief in football, as we’ve seen in the aftermath of Emiliano Sala’s plane crashing into the English Channel, takes many forms and can be far-reaching. Sixty-one years after the Munich air disaster, it remains a significant deal not just for Manchester United fans, but football fans in general.

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