Bohemian FC's historian Gerard Farrell introduces a rare screening of a unique film showcasing an Irish footballing icon, featuring a new live score, coming to Dublin's National Concert Hall this month.
Long before Mogwai soundtracked ninety minutes of Zinedine Zidane in Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's 2006 film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, the German filmmaker Hellmuth Costard had given the great George Best the cinematic treatment in his 1970 film Football as never before (Fußball wie noch nie), following the Manchester United star with eight, 16mm cameras in a First Division match against Coventry City.
This film will be shown on November 24th, with a wonderful, full live score accompaniment in the National Concert Hall - produced by Matthew Nolan and presented by Homebeat. It will be the first public showing of the film since it was shown on a big screen at Dalymount Park in 2019. There is a well-worn saying in Belfast that "Pelé good, Maradona better, George Best" but it should be noted that George was not unfamiliar with Dublin City and appeared here several times.
When Manchester United toured Ireland during the winter freeze of early 1963, the teenage George was still a few months away from his first division debut, instead it was John Giles who wore the number 7 as United beat a combined Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers selection. However, the following year Manchester United returned to Dalymount to face Shamrock Rovers again, the Reds enjoyed a 4-2 victory with the 18-year-old George playing outside-left and scoring one of the goals. The Evening Herald was moved to describe him as someone who "must surely become one of the greatest forwards the game has ever known".
Skipping forward four years and Best was in action in Dublin twice in two months. First of all, in Dalymount Park when Matt Busby brought over United, fresh from their European Cup triumph over Benfica for a testimonial game against Drumcondra FC for their player John Whelan in August of 1968. John was of course the brother of former "Busby Babe" Liam Whelan who had tragically lost his life at the age of just 22 in the Munich Air disaster. United won 2-1 thanks to two goals from Denis Law.
Six weeks later Manchester United were back in Dublin to begin the defence of their European crown against Waterford, in the first round of the European Cup. Waterford moved the game from Kilcohan Park to the much more roomy surroundings of Lansdowne Road and were rewarded with a bumper crowd of 48,000. Scottish star Denis Law scored a hat-trick that gave the European champions a 3-1 while Best was mobbed at the end by an enthusiastic crowd of supporters.
A final match to focus on was the April 1986 appearance of Best in front of Collins Barracks on the Esplanade, or the Croppy Acre as it is better known. In front of some temporary stands and a crowd of 1,500 or so, Best lined out for the Liam Tuohy XI v Collins Barracks celebrity XI in a match which was a benefit game for his former teammate Shay Brennan and while in Dublin it was announced that a Testimonial match had been confirmed in aid of Brennan between Manchester United and Shamrock Rovers with the game due to take place in August of that year. Best played 70 minutes before being subbed off, and looked "trim and fit" according to the press and was briefly joined on the pitch by a stray dog!
This Monday, and for one night only… Georgie is back in Dublin.
Football as Never Before - a celebration of George Best is at the National Concert Hall, Dublin on Monday, November 24th - find out more here
