The best blog post you'll read about John Giles's (aka Dub Rudie Giles) little-known love of reggae begins like this:
With the recent much-anticipated release of the documentary Marley, I thought there would be no better time to look at a little known anecdote that links the legendary Jamaican reggae singer with one of Ireland’s most beloved football players.
It may come as a surprise to you, it certainly did to me, to learn that Johnny Giles and Bob Marley were close friends right from the time they first met in London in August 1972 to the time of Marley’s untimely death in May 1981.
While some may know Marley as a football fan, most may not know that Johnny Giles was (and remains) a huge lover of both reggae music and Jamacian culture. He is affectionately known as ‘Dub Rudie Giles’ amongst the Afro-Caribbean community of Harbourne, Birmingham where he lives today. He has been the chairpeson of the Irish-Jamacian Fraternal Society of Harborne for the last eight years.
Bizarrely, Giles’ love of reggae is all down to George Best.
Read the rest of it here. FYI - this might not be exactly true.
