George Best was born in East Belfast on 22nd May 1946. From a young age his parents recognised George’s love for football. His mother said: ‘with George it was always the ball!’

At 11 years of age he won a scholarship to the local grammar school Grosvenor High where, unfortunately for George, rugby was the only sport on the curriculum. George hated not being able to play football and so began to skip school so that he could play. He was caught out, with the result that both his parents and the school decided that George would be better off going to Lisnasharragh Secondary, where he could play football.

George very quickly made his mark, and realised it quite quickly too. He was discovered by Bob Bishop when he was just 15 and was signed up Joe Armstrong in 1961, making his debut for Manchester United in 1963. When he started out he was very homesick for his hometown of Belfast and so after playing his first match went back for Christmas. The club rang him up asking him to play against Burnley who had beaten them on Boxing Day. George, having only played one professional game at this point agreed to come back but only if they would fly him back to Belfast straight after the game. The club agreed and didn’t regret it as he scored his first goal and United overturned their previous defeat.

Read the rest of this entry »

Related posts

• Play College Football – The Recruiting Season Starts Now
• Football Recruiting Updates – Staying in Contact With College Coaches
• College Football
• Football Recruiting and Sports Scholarships
• High School Football – The Basics and Some Do’s and Don’ts