100,000 say farewell to George Best

THE family and friends of George Best gathered to lay the football legend to rest yesterday during an emotional funeral that drew up to 100,000 mourners on to the streets of Belfast.

Among the official party was Angie Best, his first wife and mother of his son Calum, who, clutching a single red rose, joined his immediate family in a televised service at Stormont Castle in an extraordinary farewell fit for a sporting hero.

Despite teeming rain, Best's home town turned out in force to celebrate the remarkable life of the Manchester United and Northern Ireland icon, which took him from Belfast's working class Cregagh estate to the heights of soccer superstardom.

With his troubled last years forgotten, the official funeral service - paid for by the British government - drew 300 relatives and friends to Stormont's grand white-pillared Parliament Buildings. But it was also shared publicly by 32,000 people who packed into the Stormont estate as well as tens of thousands more who lined the streets of the city to pay their last respects.

As his coffin was carried out from the flower-strewn Best family home, spontaneous applause broke out among the surrounding crowd. Single red roses were thrown in front of the funeral cortege by women, and Northern Ireland scarves by male fans, as it made its way along the three-mile route to historic Stormont. There a giant TV screen relayed images of the service to the waiting crowds.

At the request of the Best family, 10 members of the crowd were chosen at random to attend the ceremony. One of those, James Potter, 69, from Dundonald, said: "I'm a Cregagh Road man and my brother played with George. This is fantastic, it's the greatest honour of my life."

The pall-bearers included Best's brother, Ian, agent Phil Hughes, Dr Akeel Alisa, who treated the former soccer star in his last days, and his brothers-in-law Norman McNarry and Alan McPherson.

The invited mourners, mainly from the world of sport and politics, were led by the Best family, including his 86-year-old father, Dickie; George's four sisters and his second wife, Alex.

They were joined by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, Irish Sports Minister John O'Donoghue and many Northern Ireland politicians.

From the sporting world came Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, England manager Sven Goran Eriksson, boxers Barry McGuigan and Dave McAuley and former world snooker champions Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor.

Former Northern Ireland teammates Gerry Armstrong, Derek Dougan, Pat Jennings, former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill, Billy Hamilton, Alan McDonald, current international squad manager Lawrie Sanchez and Best's former manager, Billy Bingham, also attended.

From the world of entertainment, another famous east-Belfast son, Van Morrison, sent a floral tribute.

The most touching tribute at Stormont came in the form of a poem read by Calum, 24.

Written by a Belfast woman, Julie McClelland, the poem read by a tearful Calum said: "Farewell our friend, but not goodbye, Your time has come, your soul must fly. To dance with angels, find the sun, But how we'll miss our special one."

There were also emotional tributes from Best's sister, Barbara McNarry, who described him as the "beautiful boy of the beautiful game"; his friend and Manchester United teammate Denis Law, and the medical staff who treated him in London's Cromwell Hospital.

There was laughter when Law, the former Scotland striker and a friend for more than 40 years, joked: "I wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't turned up today," referring to the many times his errant colleague went AWOL.