Michael Hamill (19 January 1889 – 23 July 1943) was an Irish association football

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

who played professionally in Ireland, Scotland, England and the United States. A native of West

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, he learned to play

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

before turning to association football. His first clubs were St Paul's Swifts and Belfast Rangers. After signing for

Belfast Celtic Belfast Celtic Football Club was an Irish football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for political reaso ...

, he made his debut against Shelbourne in 1909, but only became a first-team regular at inside-right from 1910 onwards. A skilful performance in a friendly against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

led to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

signing him for a new record fee of £175 on New Year's Eve 1910. His career at Manchester United was blighted by irregular appearances in the first team. A disagreement over a benefit match led to Hamill returning to Belfast Celtic on a free transfer. The fact that Manchester United received no indemnity for the loss of Hamill's services led to an agreement being established between the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and the Irish League regarding the transfer of players between the two leagues. In 1914, Hamill led

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to their first

Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

win. This included a victory over

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in the Ayresome area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It ...

, Middlesbrough, which was considered by many to be Hamill's greatest-ever game. However, he would be capped by Ireland on just seven occasions; he later refused to play for Ireland until alleged discrimination against Catholic players by the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became t ...

ceased. Hamill won his first

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

medal with Belfast Celtic in 1918, playing through a knee injury to lead his team to victory over Linfield. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Hamill had played in Scotland for a season with

, winning a League and Charity Cup medal. In 1920, after Belfast Celtic temporarily withdrew from competitive football, he returned to Manchester, this time to play for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Hamill later returned to Belfast Celtic but left again in 1925, just after having married. His destination was

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...

, where he would play for the Fall River He played only two 1924–1925 pre-season exhibition games with the 'Marksmen'. In the first, he performed masterfully in 3–2 victory over the

Boston Soccer Club The Boston Soccer Club was a member of the American Soccer League. They were renamed the Boston Bears for the Fall 1929 ASL season. In 1925, the ASL and the St. Louis Soccer League (SLSL) boycotted the National Challenge Cup, now known as t ...

. His second trial game was a fiasco and the team released him after the match. He then immediately signed with 'Wonder Workers'. He spent two seasons in Boston before moving to the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

at the start of the 1926–1927 season. He played only one game before returning to Ireland. When Hamill returned to Ireland, he signed yet again for Belfast Celtic where he ended his playing career after the 1929–1930 season. He would later manage Belfast club

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

and run the 'Centre-Half Bar' on Belfast's Falls Road. His drowned body was recovered from the River Lagan at

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

on 23 July 1943.

References

External links

The Magic of Mickey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamill, Mickey 1889 births 1943 deaths American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Men's association football wing halves Belfast Celtic F.C. players Boston Soccer Club players Celtic F.C. players Fall River F.C. (1922–1931) players Irish association footballers (before 1923) Expatriate men's footballers in England NIFL Premiership players Manchester City F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players New York Giants (soccer) players Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in the United States Association football managers from Northern Ireland Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers English Football League players Deaths by drowning in the United Kingdom Accidental deaths in Northern Ireland Ireland (IFA) men's wartime international footballers