"The Manchester United Disaster."

Bates's tribute to seven athletes who were among the victims of an airplane crash in Munich on February 6, 1958.

He relates the role of Matt Busby, manager of the Manchester United team, in nurturing young players (who came to be known as the Busby Babes) who transformed football after the War, cites player Duncan Edwards as an example of the team's maturity "both in physical strength and artistry," and notes the "pure class that made them, I think, as admirable in defeat as they had so often been in victory."

In The Football Association Year Book (1958-59, London: The Football Association, pp. 55-58), The Footballer's Fireside Book (1961), The Footballer's Companion (1962), The Saturday Men: a Book of International Football (1967), The Joy of Football (1986).