RASHFORD: WHAT MUNICH MEANS TO ME

Manchester United will pay its respects to those affected by the Munich Air Disaster on Tuesday, 60 years to the day since the tragedy.

On 6 February 1958, the darkest day in United’s history, 23 people – including eight players and three members of the club’s staff – suffered fatal injuries in the Munich air crash.
Ahead of this year’s significant anniversary, Marcus Rashford spoke exclusively to United Review to discuss when he first became aware of the tragedy and how the legacy of the Busby Babes lives on in players like him.
It promises to be an emotional occasion as the club marks Tuesday’s 60th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster. When were you first told about the Busby Babes and the air crash?It was when I was about seven or eight. There were already little things about it around [the club] at that age, but then you start to learn more about it, and when you got to 15 or 16, that was when [former Academy coach] Paul McGuinness really started to bring it to our attention. We used to watch a lot of the videos of games, especially from their FA Youth Cup runs, so we could see footage of what these players were like when they were young. It’s so close to home, it touches your heart and helps you understand it, even though you weren’t there.
Duncan Edwards and Eddie Colman were among the players who lost their lives, and at the age of 21, barely older than you are. Does that make it possible to truly understand what a tragic event it was?It was a very sad event and nobody deserves that type of thing to happen to them. But it happened, unfortunately, and the club has been amazing in the way it has bred players ever since in that same manner, like we produced the Busby Babes.
We know United do give chances to homegrown youngsters. The newly refurbished area in the Academy building shows off images of current first-teamers Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and yourself as evidence of this...I think it’s good for us. It’s a proud moment to know you are going to be pictured on the wall but I believe it’s more for the younger players. When they come into training here, they can see us on the wall and they know playing for the first team is possible. It’s a difficult thing to do – if you don’t have people telling you the right things, you can fall off course, so it’s just little things like that. Also, you can see coverage of the Busby Babes and older players. When you’re younger, you can come up to your parents afterwards and see these types of graphics and photos on the wall and it helps gives you the confidence that it can be done.
On days like this, do you think it’s fair to say you’re the sort of player who embodies Sir Matt Busby’s legacy because you seem to play with such freedom?Yeah, I think you can play here with freedom but it is within a structure. It has always been like that, since when I was young. Yes, you can do what you want but it has to be in the right areas. You have always been given that freedom and responsibility to go out and express yourself on the pitch.