Edward Colman (1 November 1936 – 6 February 1958) was an English football player and one of the eight Manchester United players who lost their lives in the Munich air disaster. Colman was born on Archie Street in Ordsall,

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, the only child of plate player Richard Colman and his wife Elizabeth. He joined Manchester United's youth team on leaving school in the summer of 1952. He became a first-team member at right-half during the 1955-56 season, ousting Jeff Whitefoot to play alongside Duncan Edwards. He finished the season with a Football League First Division title medal. He collected another league championship medal the following season, and also helped United reach the European Cup semi-finals. He played in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

final that season, but only collected a runners-up medal as United lost 2–1 to Aston Villa. He made 108 first-team appearances for United, scoring two goals, the second of which came in the first leg of the fateful European Cup quarter-final tie against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

. He died on 6 February 1958 in the crash at Munich airport after the plane stopped to refuel on the return flight. In his time at United, he was nicknamed "''Snakehips''" for his trademark body swerve. Aged 21 years and 3 months, he was the youngest of the 23 people to die. An accommodation building at the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

is named after him – the Eddie Colman Court is a block of flats located near the main campus. Eddie Colman grave

A statue of Colman was erected at his graveside in

Weaste Cemetery Weaste Cemetery is a public cemetery in Weaste, Salford, Greater Manchester, in England. Opened in 1857, it is the oldest of Salford's four cemeteries, covering 39 acres and containing over 332,000 graves. Location The cemetery lies south of Ecc ...

, Weaste,

, after his death, but it was badly damaged by

vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

within a few years and after being repaired was placed in the home of his father Dick. Dick, who died in October 1986 at the age of 76, is buried alongside Eddie and Eddie's mother Elizabeth, who died in November 1971 at the age of 62. Twenty-seven workers at a

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

boxmaking firm were dismissed from their jobs for leaving work to attend Colman's funeral, but were all soon reinstated.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colman, Eddie 1936 births 1958 deaths Footballers from Salford English footballers Association football midfielders Manchester United F.C. players English Football League players Footballers killed in the Munich air disaster People from Ordsall FA Cup Final players Burials in North West England