The Day I Met George Best

1999

Even though I was not massively into football as a child, other members of my family were and I was often told stories of George Best and how every time he played it seemed like the ball was glued to his foot. As I grew older and watched more footage of him playing, that seemed true. Wherever George's feet went, the ball went too. He was always someone I looked up to. Who'd have thought a young boy from a small estate in Belfast would grow up to be the BEST footballer in the world? It brought truth to the saying that you can be anything you want to be, no matter who you are or where you come from.

I was privileged enough to meet him not once but twice. The first was many years ago in the Quality Hotel in Carrickfergus. He was a special guest at "An Evening with the Legends" together with Dennis Law and Paddy Crerand. I could not believe that here I was in the same room as George Best, it seemed extremely surreal. Half way through the night he moved into another room to sign autographs and he made sure that with everyone he met, he took the time to ask how they were enjoying their evening.

The second meeting was at the Tesco store at Newtownabbey. It was December 2001, six months before he would undergo his liver transplant and he had just released his autobiography and turned up to personally sign copies of the book. I stood outside expecting him to be chauffeur driven to the store but out of the blue this little black Mini appeared and George was driving. To me that showed how humble he was.

Inside we waited in the huge line of people for our turn and once again he showed the same patience with each person and had a quick chat with them. He then picked up my nephew Joe, put him on his lap and was more than happy to have a picture taken. George always showed patience and interest with his fans – what a fantastic quality to have bearing in mind his huge worldwide status.

Sadly on Friday 25th November we all heard the heartbreaking news that George had died. He had fought for so long to overcome that devastating illness but he could not fight any longer. I was one of the many thousands of people who attended one of the many sites all over the country to leave items of clothing, pictures, and flowers – anything that showed we were deeply sorry for the loss of such a great legend. And then of course, even more memorabilia was left at Stormont on that very cold, wet day on Saturday 3rd December when we said goodbye to our hero.

A few weeks after the funeral, I watched Barbara & Norman McNarry on the local news. As the magnitude of the items left became apparent, they decided that they would like to donate some of the football shirts that were given to children in third world countries around the world. I wasn't sure if anything would come of it or not, but I felt compelled to write to George's dad Dickie Best. I was planning to visit Sierra Leone in the February following the funeral and asked if the family would like me to take some jerseys to the children there. My uncle has been working for the United Nations in Sierra Leone for the past three years and I had always wanted to pay him a visit. I was travelling on 17th February 2006 and unfortunately I had been and gone before Barbara was able to get in touch with me. But I had decided when I returned that I would travel out again in April 2006 so the idea of taking the football jerseys was back on.

My sister Heather and I travelled to Kircubbin to help Barbara, her sister Carol and friends to sort through the many shirts that were left. I had concerns over the weight restrictions for travelling from Belfast to London before connecting to my flight to Sierra Leone. I contacted FlyBe and explained the situation and, for The George Best Foundation, they were happy to allow me extra baggage allowances at no extra charge.

Sierra Leone is a country left torn apart after years of a severely bloody civil war. Following those atrocities, this beautiful country on the west coast of Africa has been left with no economy and many inhabitants are forced to live without the bare necessities of life; food, clothing and shelter. Unfortunately the majority of those affected are young children as the average life expectancy is shockingly low, currently standing at 39 years for males and 42 years for females. These children are being forced to live on the streets with the bare minimum of food and clothing. My Uncle who will be working in Sierra Leone until July 2007 often frequents a local school to help out where he can with the children who attend there. He has been an avid fan of football all his life and often tells me how he teaches the children to play the game. I knew that it would be a huge honour for me to take a selection of these jerseys with me on my journey to give to some of the children of Sierra Leone.

I returned to Sierra Leone at the end of April 2006 with two full suitcases of football jerseys, the majority of which were Manchester United and Northern Ireland kits, but others from teams across the football world.

On a very hot Monday morning we travelled to Cardiff Preparatory School, Freetown. As we arrived the children had just finished their lessons and had descended on the mud foreground. Upon opening the boot of our land-rover the instantly recognisable red colour of the Manchester United jerseys resulted in whispers from the children shouting "Manchester, Manchester, Manchester". They knew exactly what the shirts were and what team they represented.

It was a bit of a struggle to get all the children rounded up but once we did we were in a position to start handing out the shirts following an address from my Uncle telling the children all about George Best and where the shirts came from.

As it turned out, there were too many children in the school for them to have a shirt each to take home. The teachers of the school and I had a quick chat and decided that the best way to deal with the situation was to keep the shirts in the school to be used for sports days and football matches – which I thought was extremely fitting.

The smiles on those children's faces is something that I will hold dear to me forever and I am extremely grateful to Barbara and the Best family for giving me the opportunity to bring that little bit of joy to their lives. Thank You.

I will be returning to Sierra Leone next year and hope to visit the school again – maybe I'll be able to watch them playing football in the shirts that were so kindly donated by The George Best Foundation.

George did not always get the recognition he deserved following charity work that he undertook and I am extremely honoured that I have been involved in a part of carrying on his legacy of generosity to those less fortunate.

Our Belfast Boy!

By Debi Topping