Then think of the families left behind, the parents, the children, the wives and girlfriends.Then consider the ugly prospect of rival supporters, months or years down the line, glorifying such tragic events with chants mocking the dead merely because those killed wore the wrong colours or played for the wrong team.
Two days after the tragic events in Russia, when 43 people, including 36 team and staff from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl perished after the plane carrying them crashed shortly after taking off on a flight to Minsk, it is unimaginable to think that anybody, anywhere, could use the disaster as a tool of hate.
Who could hear the story of Yuri Urychev, the 19-year-old who chose to fly to Minsk, despite being both injured and suspended, because he wanted to be with his Lokomotiv team-mates, and then desecrate his memory by chanting about the accident which cost him his life?Perhaps Russian society is not scarred by the tribalism which has blighted English football, however.
In England, Manchester United endure chants about the Munich air disaster, Leeds United fans face rival supporters mocking the deaths of two supporters in Istanbul eleven years ago, while 22 years after 96 Liverpool supporters died at Hillsborough, fans of some clubs still take some gratification out of chants or internet slurs relating to the disaster in Sheffield.
Put simply, the premature loss of players and supporters of rival clubs has become, among some at least, an accepted target for abuse.When United visit Bolton on Saturday, will the bitterness caused by an FA Cup triumph being overlooked by a nation 53 years ago, when Wanderers beat United at Wembley just three months after Munich, lead to the Munich chants from the home supporters that have been a curse to Bolton for years?
Will Leeds fans travel to Millwall again this season and be greeted by home supporters waving Galatasaray scarves, as they did last April, as a sickening reminder of the events in Istanbul in 2000?But, conversely, will Elland Road be free of Munich chants when Leeds host United for the first time in eight years in the Carling Cup later this month?
Will Manchester City supporters forego the ‘Who put the ball in the Munich's net’ chant which stained their victory at Blackburn last April, the next time they play United?What will happen when United and Liverpool clash at Anfield on Oct 15?England’s two biggest and most illustrious clubs are united by the tragedies that have befallen both, yet supporters on each side of the divide continue to mock Munich and Hillsborough.Such is the depth of antipathy and loathing between the fans of some of England’s top clubs that news of United sending a letter of condolence to Yaroslavl prompted some on Twitter to accuse the club of seeking good PR by publicising the correspondence.
A shared grief and collective loss is, therefore, now twisted into something approaching exploitation of a tragedy.But then maybe that highlights the problem — the utterly one-eyed outlook of those who feel free to resort to hate-filled chants and taunts.Perhaps it is the passing of time which diminishes the shock and horror and leads to the mocking of the dead.With Yaroslavl still at the forefront of the minds of everyone in the sporting world and beyond, it is simply incomprehensible to imagine Russian ice hockey being scarred by the Munich or Hillsborough-style taunts in the future.But it happens in England and, despite the harrowing images of loss in Russia, does anyone really expect it to go away?
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