George Best to Return to Football at Tobermore

Details

Location

Tobermore

Year

1984

Date

Production 10/01/1984

Length

07min 03sec

Audio

sound

Format

Betacam

colour

Source

Digitised as part of the BFI Heritage 2022 project.

Courtesy

Department for Communities, ITV, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, UTV Archive

Rights Holder

ITV

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

Jackie Fullerton of UTV reports from the village of Tobermore on an extraordinary sporting development. It was the news that the B Division football team (who had only been formed seventeen years earlier) had managed to sign one of the greatest footballers ever to play the game – George Best.

The signing was just for one game – an Irish Cup tie against Ballymena United who were managed at the time by another former Northern Ireland international, the goalkeeper Jim Platt. And, of course, Best was now aged thirty-seven and had not been playing regular football since leaving San Jose Earthquakes in 1981. Nevertheless, this was seismic news in Irish football and a real coup for Tobermore.

Jackie interviewed the Tobermore manager Billy Patterson about the news and spoke to other members of the club about the rebuilding job at the club’s ground to accommodate the additional supporters they were expecting for the cup tie. There are also extensive opinions from the locals on the streets of Tobermore with everyone looking forward to their meeting with superstardom.

Credits

An Ulster Television Production.
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