George Hamilton (7 December 1917 – May 2001) was a Scottish international

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, rugb ...

, who spent most of his 21-year career with

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

. He also played for Queen of the South, Heart of Midlothian and

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

.George Hamilton, Dave Halliday and Billy Houliston full career profiles on "Queens legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
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Playing career

Queen of the South

Born in Irvine, Hamilton started out with local junior side Irvine Meadow before moving to

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from t ...

to join Queen of the South. Hamilton was comfortable with the ball on either foot and had an obvious love of playing the game. After a single season with Queens (scoring nine goals in 31 league games) Aberdeen managed by Dave Halliday (another ex-Queen of the South player) purchased him for £3000 in April 1938.

Aberdeen

Hamilton would prove as shrewd a signing as Halliday would ever make as he would emerge as an inspirational player of real quality. Like many of his contemporaries, Hamilton's career was significantly disrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and, when

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

football in Scotland went into abeyance in 1939, he returned to his native

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of ...

. Eventually, temporary Regional Leagues were established, and, due to war-time travel restrictions, players would guest for local sides. This resulted in Hamilton turning out for first Ayr United, then Rangers between 1940 and 1945. Hamilton returned to Aberdeen at the end of global hostilities and enjoyed his most successful period, lifting the transitional 1945–46 League Cup then scoring the winner in the 1947 Scottish Cup Final against Hibernian. Despite this, when Heart of Midlothian offered £8000 plus the younger Archie Kelly for his services in December 1947, the ''Reds'' considered it good value for a 30-year-old, and accepted.

Heart of Midlothian

After only 17 appearances (scoring six goals in thirteen league games) for Hearts, an unsettled Hamilton returned to Aberdeen.

Return to Aberdeen

In March 1950 Hamilton played in a titanic Scottish Cup quarter final tussle against former club Queen of the South, eventually losing 4–3 after being three goals up. Despite Aberdeen's erratic league results, Hamilton helped the side to two further (losing) Scottish Cup Final appearances, in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...

and

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. Age eventually caught up with Hamilton and he was transferred to

in 1955, having largely watched from the sidelines as a young ''Dons'' side won the 1954–55 League title with the long serving Halliday still at the helm.

Hamilton Academical

Hamilton retired a matter of months after joining Academicals, not long after his 38th birthday. In his eleven league appearances for the club he scored two goals.

International career

Hamilton's consistent good form in 1945–46 earned him a Scotland national team debut against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. Hamilton twice earned an international recall, initially in 1951, when he scored a hat-trick against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, then remarkably in 1954 when aged 36. He played 2 games against Norway scoring the only goal of the game played in Scotland. This latter return coincided with the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

and Hamilton was selected in the 22-man squad for Switzerland. Scotland decided to take only 13 players to the finals with Hamilton one of the players to stay at home on reserve with the likes of

Bobby Combe James Robert Combe (29 January 1924 – 19 January 1991) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Hibernian and was player/manager of Dumbarton for one season. He also represented Scotland and the Scottish Football League XI. A schoolboy inter ...

and Jimmy Binning. However Hibs'

Bobby Johnstone Robert Johnstone (7 September 1929 – 22 August 2001) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Selkirk, Hibernian, Manchester City, Oldham Athletic and Witton Albion. Johnstone also represented Scotland and the Scottish League. Johnstone ...

withdrew through injury with Hamilton called in to replace him in the 13 to travel. However Hamilton did not play in either of Scotland's two games. Hamilton was the first former Queen of the South player to travel to the World Cup Finals.

Sam Malcolmson Samuel "Sam" A. Malcolmson (born 2 April 1947) is a former footballer who represented New Zealand. UK career Hailing from Dalbeattie, Malcolmson served in the Royal Navy and in 1969, whilst stationed at R.N.A.S. Culdrose in Cornwall, he playe ...

to Spain in 1982 and

Bernie Slaven Bernard Joseph Slaven (born 13 November 1960) is a former professional football striker. He scored 223 goals in 567 league and cup appearances over the course of an 18-year career and also earned seven caps for the Republic of Ireland. He star ...

Italia 90 The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

are the others to have done so.

Later years

After hanging up his boots Hamilton joined the Aberdeen coaching team.http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player3/georgehamilton.html

Honours

Aberdeen *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

Southern League Cup (Scotland) The Southern League Cup was a regional Scottish football competition held during the Second World War, due to the suspension of national competitions. Held between 1940 and 1946, the competition involved all teams from the Southern League and was ...

1946 Events January * January 6 - The first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into four occupation zones. * January 10 ** The ...

References

* *

External links

George Hamilton full career profile on the official Queen of the South website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, George 1917 births 2001 deaths Footballers from Irvine, North Ayrshire Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Queen of the South F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Rangers F.C. wartime guest players Ayr United F.C. wartime guest players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Scottish Football League players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Aberdeen F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League representative players Association football inside forwards Irvine Meadow XI F.C. players Scotland wartime international footballers