George Best given freedom of boyhood borough
Soccer superstar George Best has been given the freedom of the borough where he grew up as a boy.
Castlereagh Council on the outskirts of East Belfast honoured the former Manchester United star by giving him its highest accolade.
The motion, which was proposed by the Social Democratic and Labour Party and seconded by the Democratic Unionist Party, was passed unanimously last night.
Best, who has been fighting a high-profile battle to give up alcohol, now lives in his native Northern Ireland in the Co Down fishing village of Portavogie.
The DUP’s Deputy Leader Peter Robinson, a member of Castlereagh Borough Council said it was an ideal way to honour the area’s most famous son, who grew up in the local Cregagh Estate.
‘‘People in Castlereagh for a very long period of time have recognised that they have had someone in George Best who was recognised throughout the world as probably the greatest soccer star, indeed the first superstar in soccer terms that the world has seen,’’ he said.
