Today we are looking at three objects in our collection that we care for on behalf of Players’ Foundation related to Frank Swift who played for Manchester City and England, mainly during the Second World War, and who tragically died in the Munich Air Disaster in 1958.
Frank Swift was born on Boxing Day 1913 in Blackpool and started playing as a goalkeeper for Fleetwood before signing with Manchester City in 1932. He broke into the first team in 1933 and made 338 league appearances for the club, as well as more than 100 appearances in wartime leagues for City and other clubs such as Liverpool, Charlton Athletic and Fulham.
Swift joined the British army and played several representative matches. In September 1944 he joined Stanley Matthews, Matt Busby, Stan Mortensen and Tommy Lawton in a Combined Services XI against Ireland, winning 8-4. He also represented an FA Services XI in games against France and Belgium in the same year and went on a European tour as part of a British Army XI in May 1945. He made 14 international appearances in wartime as well as 19 international appearances between 1946 and 1949.
Manchester City won the Second Division Championship in the first season after the war, and Swift achieved 17 clean sheets in 35 appearances – a club record that stood for nearly 40 years until Alex Williams achieved 20 clean sheets in 1985.
Embed from Getty ImagesWe are very lucky to have three medals in our collection relating to Frank Swift. After losing the 1933 FA Cup final to Everton, City made it to the final again in 1934, after beating favourites Aston Villa 6-1 in the semi-final. On 28 April 1934 they faced Portsmouth in front of more than 90,000 spectators at Wembley. Swift famously did not wear goalie gloves in the first half, imitating Portsmouth’s goalkeeper, but conceding a goal after 26 minutes. His teammate Fred Tilson managed to score twice just before the final whistle, securing City’s second FA Cup win.
We also hold two other medals that were awarded to Frank Swift in the Payers Foundation collection – his Sportsman of the Year medallions from 1947 and 1948. They are both inscribed on the reverse with Frank Swift, Elected One of The Twelve Sportsmen of the Year, in Sporting Record National Ballot. Frank won the British Home Championships with England in both years.
After retiring from football in 1949, Frank Swift took up a career in journalism and worked for the News of the World. Sadly, he died aged 44 in the Munich Air Disaster along with 22 other passengers, including 8 Manchester United players. Swift had reported on United’s European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade the day before. On the way back, the plane carrying 44 passengers crashed on its third attempt at Munich airport after coming off the runway in slushy snow and veering into a house.
Frank Swift is widely regarded as one of England’s best goalkeepers along Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton. His successor at Manchester City was fellow club and goalkeeper legend Bert Trautmann.