“It’s one of those nights”. With these words, spoken in that wonderfully familiar voice in Lille as the final whistle blew on Ireland’s dramatic victory over Italy last summer, George Hamilton evoked an entire national footballing history. And as he reamed off the names of the cities where those nights had previously happened, you remembered that through it all, there has been one constant; one reliable; one unifying element; one which has become a defining part of Irish football history itself. The voice of the commentator.
He should be more celebrated. There are the odd articles here and there, the brilliant Danger Here which gave new life to a 1988 panicked outburst, and of course the flag that has his most famous quote, but this man should have a statue erected on the west stand podium at Lansdowne Road. Every single magnificent Irish football moment has been described to the millions by George Hamilton. His voice simply cannot be separated from the moments below. A twelfth man for those watching at home, no doubt.
No attempts are made by Hamilton to hide his allegiance, an allegiance which seems to have developed despite his Belfast Methodist background. My memory of the Italia 90 home qualifiers is of commanding Irish performances which eventually led to a breakthrough goal all of which were accompanied by an almost perfunctory “and there it is…” as if it was only a matter of time before the goal was found; we could all breathe a sigh of relief – George included; and Ireland would win. Which we did in every home game of that campaign. He also famously roared “Oh nooo… disaster” when Mexico went 2 up in USA 94. No impartiality required. He knows his audience and there weren’t many Mexicans living in RTE land in those days.
George Hamilton was cemented in Irish national culture in those years. As football took the sporting and cultural centre stage for the first time since Independence, George, along with Dunphy, Giles and the equally masterful and incomparable Bill O’Herlihy transcended the subject matter and became part of the family. Sometimes he would do your head in, but you would miss him if he wasn’t there. And Ireland did. The infamous Jimmy Magee curse first reared its head in Italia 90, when the veteran was drafted in for the prestige quarter-final against the hosts. And then again four years later when the Dutch did for us in Orlando.
But he has his angry side as well. One of my favourite moments from his commentary came from that infamous day in 1995 when Ireland succumbed to Austria at home 3-1.This was the day after the Harry’s Challenge debacle and is regarded as the beginning of the end for Jack Charlton. Our batter filled lads managed to take the lead fairly late on – 65 minutes – through Ray Houghton, but 3 goals in 10 minutes as the Irish team wobbled around the pitch was enough for a good few fans to head off to the pub or to the DART and buses to beat the traffic with more than 5 minutes left on the clock. The team was fucked and there was no hope of a fightback. George responded to this disgrace by jumping on his high horse berating these “fairweather fans” who dared walk out on this team in its hour of need. It was proper righteous stuff. He was probably right based on the team’s reputation, but perhaps had he known their nutritional habits the night before, he’d have fecked off to the Beggars Bush himself for a scoop once Toni Polster had knocked in number 3.
His love of the farcical was also in evidence last summer when he delivered one of the most comical pieces of commentary in his distinguished career by choosing to sympathise with the English nation after their Icelandic collapse by aping Bjørge Lillelien at full time. Yeh he’s the Norwegian commentator from 1981 when they beat England 1-0. It’s difficult to tell the difference between the tribute and the original. Kind of. But the point is that he did it. He couldn’t have planned it in advance – maybe he had built it up for a while before the final whistle as England huffed and puffed aimlessly, which is even better because the man knows what’s ridiculous and what’s not. Yet having thought about it he purposely chose the ridiculous option and gave us a classic commentary moment. Hear it and the original at 2:43 here.Fantastic. And rightly lauded by the Second Captain’s crew at the time!
Hamilton is also famous for his absolute dedication to the pronunciation of players names.Whether they are your more straightforward French or Spanish ones or those from deepest old Eastern Europe, George will get it absolutely spot on. None of this English nonsense of just saying what you see. No.George does his research. Which he probably sees as just doing his job. It’s the other clowns who let the fraternity down.
His breadth of ability also sees him hosting a classical music show ‘The Hamilton Scores’ on weekend mornings on Lyric FM. We should also remember that he had emergency heart surgery back in 2011 and returned to the day jobs pretty soon after. He may be a most dedicated commentator, but I would imagine he is a man of perspective and wide-ranging interests.
I know he has his moments and can sometimes pontificate when he sees things that get on his wick. But he’s usually right about these things – play acting; pernickity refereeing etc. but for many of us, it is impossible to imagine the glory days of the Charlton era without hearing Hamilton’s voice and I hope the same will be said in the future of Euro 2016 and a few more moments to come. At 65 years of age, there probably aren’t too many tournaments left before retirement, so we should listen carefully for those commentary nuggets that only come with such knowledge and experience in case one day soon they are replaced by an inferior product. If he had done Italia 90 and that alone, he would be a national treasure for that one phrase uttered as O’Leary stepped forward. But he has done far, far more in many, many sports and in music. And I never even mentioned Know Your Sport!!!
To quote his colleague Jimmy Magee from one of his finest pieces – “Different class!”
A Yard of Grass 