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It's a case of Not What It Is, But What It Means
As another Manchester derby approaches, City's suits are imploring the Blue hordes to refrain from using the term "Munich" when baiting the Red Buccaneers. They say, and some would agree, that it's disrespectful to the victims of the Munich air crash in 1958, the recent anniversary of which has prompted the usual sycophantic TV docs, in themselves coming just days after "George Best" day on BBC2 was an excuse for all manner of rouged propaganda. It's an issue that ties in with the new era of politically-correct thought police, the Home Office's laws against incitement and Tony's new much-vaunted Respect agenda. If the City boys offend, will they be asboed and flown off to a CIA-administered torture chamber to come out bruised, battered and converted to the Old Trafford-cum-high capitalist cause? Maybe they'll stop, out of respect for the suicide lawyer from California - a big Red natch.
"Red" is good. "Rag" is better. "Munich" divides opinion among City fans. But when "Andrew Cole, he's not a M**ich any more" rings round the ground, you can be sure that it is not only the hooligan/scally fringe piping up. Some people might theoretically be appalled by the word and its implications but sing it in the heat of the moment. Some people may even sing it who have decried its use on the various City online spaces. Some of them are young twats who do not know the difference.
You can bet that the thousands singing it who aren't "top boys" do NOT delight in the air crash. They have made the conscious or unconscious leap from associating it with the plane crash to using it as a slang term IN ITS OWN RIGHT. For them, Munich is just a term of abuse only loosely connected with 1958. It shows that, despite all-seater stadia and the bland-out of modern football, City fans give as good as they get, that despite United's success/their global marketing drive they are still the disliked neighbour from round the way. And that they will always be there, reminding them Manchester is more relevant than Singapore. If it is anything to do with the accident, it is more to do with what came after, such as the media obsession with United and the fact that we have to put up with them so much. Calling them "Munichs" is as much a cry against this as any else. It could also be argued that United have traded on the ‘tragedy' as part of the overblown mythology on sale at the Theatre of Dreams, but of course Blues are not allowed to say that too. As Cull's Eldan (a West Ham fan) texted: "The tragic thing is the cynical use of death to promote a brand. The two cannot be separated, so Munich remains a legitimate term. Soz guys."
[The corollary that City fans should worry less about ManU, or give them more respect, is just not going to happen. As much as we hate to admit it, both clubs' fans are infatuated with the other. United is the nearest other, the inverse and inextricably bound up in the MC/r experience even if it's from the perspective of opposition; United even try to deny the fact that "little Citeh" put them down in 1974. In fact, understanding the relationship between the two clubs would help Pearce and co to appreciate why, after the criminal act against Alfy Haaland, Keane could never put on a blue shirt and reds would have been appalled to see him do so. Some Blues are City-first but pro-Manchester second. Some Blues have many Red friends and wouldn't dare use the term; others have none and use the dreaded M-word freely; most know a few Reds but sometimes use the term. There are more serious -actually political - issues to get worked up at City, like why the hardcore sing "no surrender to the IRA" or indulge in racist chanting.]
Banning a word is unfeasible, although it's clear that Terror Cap Holdings and other administrators are going to have a good damn try. It reminds of the debate we had when we launched WhoreCull six years ago - apparently the name was a direct suggestion that we wanted to kill whores! (We didn't, although in practising cog dis we played with that area)
Making the whole argument even more futile is the fact that City do not revel in the disaster or abuse United on those direct terms. Unlike Leeds or Liverpool, City do NOT sing "always look on the runway for ice". Maybe Blues do know where to draw the line, after all. Maybe this campaign to ban the word is pathetic, and maybe the whole furore about the term should wither away. |
