BEST TRIBUTES PUT TO GOOD USE

Last updated : 11 January 2006 By Editor
From the BBC:

Hundreds of football shirts left after the death of George Best have found a good home in South Africa. The jerseys were left in Belfast in tribute to the ex-Manchester United and Northern Ireland star after his death at the age of 59 last November.

Best's sister Barbara McNarry and her husband Norman went to KwaZulu, Natal, to donate the shirts to young people.

The children were delighted to get the Manchester United shirts and football, items beyond most of their means.

Barbara said her brother did a lot to help children from deprived backgrounds and she was sure he would have wanted something like this to happen.

"Football, anywhere in the world, if it gives any child a chance to come through and shine, George would have loved it - he just adored the game," she said.

"Who knows? Maybe we'll find another George Best in South Africa - maybe not as good, but close!"

The pitch where the children play is bumpy and hard, and Norman McNarry said he hoped they could help to improve it in the future.

"They could get rid of the ant hills and flatten it out - it's on a slope which can't be helped but at least the holes could be filled in and the grass cut," he said.

"Poverty is so endemic here in this particular part of South Africa, and we just thought to ourselves that if we could do some small bit of good for them, that is what we should try and achieve.

"With a bit of luck, this may go on from here and perhaps if we come back in 12 months, we can see a proper soccer pitch and a very enthusiastic soccer squad."