I had the unfortunate experience of running into
Hamilton 3 times back when I was a TV star on Know your Sport, he epitomised little man syndrome.
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Buddy! Where you bin?
Correct on both counts. Two fuckin doses.
‘It’s Stuttgart, it’s New Jersey, it’s all rolled into one’ was absolutely iconic.
Lads who don’t like George Hamilton just don’t get it.
Always thought George could have looked after his teeth a bit better considering he was been paid well in excess of 200K per year.
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I’ve been in his company and I don’t get it, I’d suggest you’d agree with me if you had done likewise
Simon Holt in his pomp was the best sporting commentator of any sport of all time in my opinion.
His diction and accuracy were simply off the scale. He’s slipped a bit in recent times though.
Brian Tyers the best Ireland has had. Brings games to life.
I’m in the minority I know but i don’t have an issue with Fletcher on TNT. Its just a pity his co comms tend to be idiots.
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I’ll give you that one, Istabraq winning his 3rd Champion Hurdle, after the last “his favourite hill to climb” was iconic.
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Commentary isn’t really about “lines”. And it definitely isn’t about pre-prepared lines (hello Peter “I want every commentary I make to go viral on Tik Tok” Drury). It’s about consistent excellence. It’s about tone and authority. It’s not about commentating on the way you think the public want you to commentate, it’s about commentating in your own style and the public recognising that that style is good. Memorable lines can only be memorable lines through genuine excellence, through an ability to find the right words in the moment, on the hoof.
“Robbie Brady brings us all to our feet in Lille” was a brilliant line. It was completely unforced, it was a simple, understated description of a enormous moment. Understating the moment makes it bigger.
I think my favourite George Hamilton line is the one at the end of the Ireland-Holland game in 2001.
“The final whistle sounds at Lansdowne Road…It has to be one of the most courageous, the most brave, the most committed, and ultimately one of the most effective Irish performances we’ve ever seen…”
A moment of culmination.
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‘He sometimes makes a mistake, but NOT TODAY, Kauto Star, 10 or 12 lengths clear, this is the Champion’
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A nation holds its breath is like an overplayed song at this stage but it’s an absolutely unreal line. The delivery of it was perfect too. It’s our ‘they think it’s all over’
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There’s a reason Irish football supporters genuinely believed in the curse of Jimmy Magee. It was real.
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Peter O’Sullevan, Gold Cup 1964 after Arkle shredded Mill House, “this is the best we’ve seen in a long time”, the great commentators get it instantly.
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Reg Gutteridge was probably the best commentator in this part of the world in my time. Him and Jim Watt were without peer as a commentary duo.
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Danger here?
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Bullshit. No one gets more undue praise than old timey commentators. The moments made him, not the other way around
The commentary for Niall Quinn’s equaliser against Holland was another masterclass. It was the commentary equivalent of Mick McCarthy’s “look” when Robbie Keane scored against Germany.
The humdrum, expectation-free opening tones “that was Van Aerle…”
Then the slightly rising tone to “and…”
Then “Van Breukelen’s LOST IT” - the tone rapidly rising with every syllable of that segment.
Followed by the sudden ecstatic, full throttle release: “AND IT’S THEEEERRRRE, NIALL QUINN HAS GOT IT!!!”
“Oh noooo” was all that needed to be said when Luis Garcia eviscerated Pat Bonner’s net for the second time in 1994.
“That man in the yellow hat really has no place in the firmament of international football” was more genius.
The exasperation in George’s voice was Basil Fawlty like. Everybody in Ireland felt like Basil Fawlty at his most exasperated at that moment. We were irked and angry and we wanted to swat this jobsworth twat in the yellow hat over the head with a loose branch of a tree. We wanted to lose our shit at that moment.
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Relentless, Remorseless…
I had a video of Italia 90 where the commentaries were obviously redone after for some reason. He said the same things but they didn’t have the urgency of the real ones. Drove me mental.
And sheedys won it back and sheedy SHOOOTS!
That was Richard Hoiles…
‘The favourites beat, he’s hit the wall’ about Dawn Approach in the 2013 Epsom Derby was another great one from Holt.
Or about Australia, “born to win the Derby”…
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