Rory Hamill (born 4 May 1976) is a former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

from Northern Ireland.

Playing career

Rory Hamill had been capped for Northern Ireland youth before joining English Premier League club

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

as a trainee in 1992. He failed to make the senior team and left for Division Three side

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

in November 1994. In the first season, he played a total of 25 League and Cup games, scoring seven goals. He was also capped for Northern Ireland B-team cap in a 3–0 defeat by Scotland B in February 1995. The next season Hamill failed to establish his position in the Fulham first team. In September 1996 he joined

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

on loan, a move that became permanent in November. His performance for Glentoran brought him back to the attention of the Northern Ireland set-up and he won his second B cap in a 1–0 defeat by Wales in February 1999. In April 1999, Hamill was called up to the Northern Ireland full squad by

Lawrie McMenemy Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war English ...

. He came on as a substitute in a friendly against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. With Glentoran Hamill picked up an Irish League title in 1999 and Irish Cup winner's medals in 1998 and 2000. A drug test after an

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

match between Glentoran and Norwegian side

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...

in August 2000 proved positive with traces of cannabis. Initially Hamill was banned from all European competitions, but on the eve of the 2001 Irish Cup Final a ban from all competition was imposed, causing him to miss the Final, and all games up to 4 October 2001. After 150 League appearances, and 28 goals, Hamill left Glentoran in 2001 for

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

. With Coleraine Hamill added another Irish Cup medal. In August 2003 he scored against U.D. Leiria in a 2–1 win in the

. A year later, Hamill moved on to Ballymena United, where he was to become vice-captain. In 2006, Hamill signed for Dungannon Swifts. He helped the Swifts to their first ever Irish Cup Final appearance in his only season. In June 2007, Hamill rejoined

. In October he was a member of the Glens side that won the County Antrim Shield – with a 2–1 win over Crusaders. In January 2008 he joined

Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Football & Social Club is an intermediate football and social club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Donegal ...

on loan. At the end of the season he switched for

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

. In May 2009 he suffered another Cup Final defeat with the Reds. After a somewhat disappointing spell with Cliftonville, he moved to Glenavon in February 2010. Championship 1 side Bangor brought Hamill to Clandeboye Park in July 2010. Rory made 19 starting appearances for the Seasiders and scored 5 goals before being released by the club at the end of March 2011.

Honours

* Irish League/Irish Premier League **

1998/99 *

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 ...

: 3 **

1998, 2000 ** Coleraine F.C. 2003 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

2007/08

References

External links

Biography at NIFG

Fulham FC Cult heroes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamill, Rory Association footballers from County Londonderry Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Fulham F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Dungannon Swifts F.C. players Donegal Celtic F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players PSNI F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Living people Northern Ireland men's international footballers Northern Ireland men's B international footballers English Football League players 1976 births Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Coleraine, County Londonderry Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Bangor F.C. players NIFL Championship players