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

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, he learned to play

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

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 a football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 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 polit ...

, 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 Fo ...

led to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

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 football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

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

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to their first

Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

win. This included a victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, 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 was demolished in 1997 and r ...

, 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 from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

ceased. Hamill won his first

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, 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 () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. 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. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

, where he would play for the

Fall River Marksmen Fall River Marksmen was an American soccer club based in Fall River, Massachusetts. They originally played as Fall River United before becoming known as the Marksmen after their owner, Sam Mark. During the 1920s and early 1930s they were one of t ...

. 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 the ...

. 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

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, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

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 ...

on 23 July 1943.

References

External links

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