George Hamilton (commentator)

George Hamilton
Born	1951 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Broadcaster
Employer	Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)

George Hamilton (born 1951) is an Irish broadcaster born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is best known as the chief football commentator for RTÉ, for which he also commentates on other sporting events, such as the Olympic Games. He presents a classical music program on RTÉ lyric fm called The Hamilton Scores.

While a student at Methodist College,Belfast, Hamilton was, for a time, principal cellist with the school orchestra. He then studied German and French at Queen's University, Belfast.

Hamilton began his commentary career with BBC Sport, before joining RTÉ eight years later in 1984. He had previously worked for RTÉ during the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Since 2003, he has worked for RTÉ lyric fm (Ireland's classical radio station) on Saturday mornings. For many years, he fronted a popular weekly quiz show on RTÉ, Know Your Sport, alongside fellow commentator Jimmy Magee.

Hamilton was chief commentator for RTÉ Sport's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the ninth one in which he has been involved. Hamilton was RTÉ's chief commentator at Euro 2012, and commentated on all of Ireland's matches in the competition. He has been involved in the coverage of the Olympic Games since Moscow Olympics in 1980.

Hamilton is known for his use of colourful phrases and memorable quotes when commentating on games – his phrase describing David O'Leary's penalty against Romania in the 1990 World Cup, "The nation holds its breath", was used for a book of Irish soccer quotations, compiled by Eoin Corry, for which Hamilton wrote the foreword.

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