Footballer Best to be buried in Belfast home plot |
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Wed, 30 Nov 2005 12:05
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BELFAST: George Best, Northern Ireland's illustrious footballer, who died Friday last, will be laid to rest Saturday in his hometown of Belfast, after a funeral service at the Grand Hall of Stormont Parliamentary building.
Nearly 100,000 people are expected to converge in Stormont to pay their last tributes to the former Manchester United Northern Ireland international football genius.
All the hotel rooms available in Belfast have been booked and the authorities are making elaborate preparations to handle any eventualities. Only about 30,000 people will be allowed into the Stormont grounds, where the service will be held although up to 500,000 are expected to line the streets such was and is the public fondness of Best.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and former Northern Ireland internationals Pat Jennings, Gerry Armstrong and Martin O'Neil are expected to attend the service, to be led by TV presenter Earmon Holmes. The government will be represented by sports minister John O'Donoghue.
Best, 59, often compared to the game's legends like Pele, Maradona and Johan Cruyff, died of multiple organ failure following years of alcohol addiction. He will be buried alongside his mother Ann in the family plot in Roselawn cemetery.
Meanwhile, the Irish Football Association has directed that all soccer matches in Northern Ireland on Saturday will be postponed as a mark of respect to Best.
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