George Best – Commentary

The intended audience of my article is a middle aged one. Many will be able to relate to George Best as he was in the headlines when the reader was growing up. Therefore the background to Best’s life in the 60s and 70s, which is included, would make sense to the target audience. This piece would be published in the Editorial and Opinion section of a broadsheet newspaper. A tabloid would stress a point too much and often exaggerate. The vocabulary and overall tone used in my piece would be more suitable in a paper such as The Guardian or The Independent.

Many complex terms such as ‘laudable’ and ‘beguiled’ were used to appeal to the sophisticated target audience of a broadsheet newspaper. As the text would be published in a broadsheet the layout of the text is similar to that of a newspaper. There are three columns of text with an image of George Best holding his award. This device captures the reader’s attention and draws them into reading the article. The title itself gives a lot away about the direction in which the article is to flow. ‘Was G Best ever the Best?’ chosen carefully to catch the attention of the reader. Usefully best can be used as a pun, forming two meanings out of the same word. The introductory paragraph sums up the whole article, carrying on from the title by giving specific details of the subject in concern. Written in the past tense creates the feeling of a news report, making sense considering it is to be published in a newspaper. This past tense tone informs the reader of previous events.

A quote from a news reporter confirms Best’s poor physical condition which sets up the foundations fro the article.

‘George looked frail but happy’

As this is an important statement I left it on its own rather than placing the text in a larger paragraph. By doing this it would lose its significance and weighting.

The paragraph after this is lengthy. It describes and looks at the life and career of the subject, George Best. Included are many details of Best’s career highlights to acquaint the reader with facts and figures, which would not have previously been known to the reader. Halfway through the paragraph the honourable achievements ‘u -turn’ into why he should not have received the award. I felt that by putting all his achievements next to his pitfalls this would create a great contrast to astound and shock the reader. Ironic terms such as ‘superstar’ add elements of sarcasm

At the end of this paragraph there is a section of detail, which would persuade the reader to agree with my viewpoint. I gave detail of two past winners. One who is now knighted and the other who is a legend in his own way. Both Alex Ferguson and Mohammed Ali therefore create a comparison with the brief achievements of George Best.

The next two paragraphs stray away slightly from Best and more towards his opposites and his equivalent in this day. Firstly I put together examples of the role models that we should be looking up to such as Gary Lineker and David Beckham including sections of their achievements. Then the modern equivalent to Best was added. This being Paul Gascoigne who I feel many readers would agree with. In a similar way to describing the career highlights of Best I kept almost the same structure so the reader could in their mind compare the two. A rhetorical question was then added to get the reader’s thoughts going.

Finally I briefly summed up again why George Best deserved the award, bearing in mind that I am arguing against his receiving of the award I kept these reasons to as few as possible. I then put why he should not have received the award I.e. Quitting football at an early age and drinking problems. I tried to make sure that the reasons why not outweighed the reasons for. A final statement at the end puts across my point quite boldly:

‘The first British superstar turned shamed alcoholic struck behind bars. Certainly not worthy of a lifetime achievement award’

‘Certainly’ meaning no doubt or that it is unquestionable I felt was the right word to really stress my opinion.