page_title: George Best
section_title: Memorials
hierarchical_section_title: George Best / Death / Memorials
caption_attribution_description: Camera: Nikon D5000 Luminance HDR, Mantiuk '06
context_page_description: George Best was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skillfull dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968 and came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. Best received plaudits for his playing style, which combined pace, skill, balance, feints, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to get past defenders.
  In international football, Best was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland between 1964 and 1977. A combination of the team's performance and his lack of fitness in 1982 meant that he never played in the finals of a major tournament. He considered his international career as being "recreational football", with the expectations placed on a smaller nation in Northern Ireland being much less than with his club. He is regarded as one of the greatest players never to have played at a World Cup. The Irish Football Association described him as the "greatest player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland".
context_section_description: Belfast City Airport was renamed George Best Belfast City Airport as a tribute to Best. The official new name and signage was unveiled to a gathering of the Best family and friends at the airport on 22 May 2006, which would have been his 60th birthday. Public opinion in Northern Ireland about the renaming of the airport was divided, with one poll showing 52% in favour and 48% against. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) deputy leader and East Belfast Member of Parliament Peter Robinson, in whose constituency Belfast City airport is situated, stated that his preference was a sports stadium be named after Best.
  In March 2006, the airline Flybe named a Dash 8 (Q400) plane The George Best. The aircraft was later used to carry Best's family across to the Manchester memorial service for Best.
  In June 2006, Sarah Fabergé, great-granddaughter of Russian Imperial Jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé, was commissioned to create the George Best Egg, in tribute. A limited edition of 68 eggs were produced, with all profits from the sale of the eggs going to the George Best Foundation, which promotes health through sport and supports people with alcohol and drug problems. The first egg is on display at the George Best Airport. For the first anniversary of his death, Ulster Bank issued 1 million commemorative £5 notes. The notes sold out in five days. The notes sold on the online auction site eBay for up to £30.
  In December 2006 the George Best Memorial Trust launched a fund-raising drive to raise £200,000 in subscriptions to pay for a life-size bronze sculpture of George Best. By 2008 the money had still not been raised until a local developer, Doug Elliott, announced on 29 January 2008, that he would put up the rest of the money and would manage delivery of the project.
caption: George Best waxwork in Malahide, Dublin
exif: {}