Hamilton
Gordon Hamilton is a retired former rugby union player. He represented the Ireland national side and played as a flanker. Learn more about him here.
Gordon Hamilton Bio
Gordon Hamilton is an Irish, retired rugby union player who played for a number of clubs and represented Ireland at international level. He also played as a flanker for club and country.
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in May 1964, Gordon Hamilton enjoyed rugby union from a young age and went on to play at a senior level for a number of sides including North of Ireland Football Club, Howe of Fife in Scotland, Ballymena and most notably for Ulster.
Today, Gordon Hamilton is best remembered for his time on the international stage with Ireland, most iconically during the Rugby World Cup in 1991.
He made his debut aged 26 against France in what was the Five Nations (now the Six Naitons) and he would then go on to earn 10 caps – with nine of these 10 coming over a single 10-month spell in 1991 and 1992. However, it’s Gordon Hamilton’s one and only try which is a seminal moment in Irish rugby history.
This was during the abovementioned Rugby World Cup of 1991 during Ireland’s quarter final match against Australia, when the side were trailing the Wallabies with just minutes to spare. Gordon Hamilton ran over 40 metres with the ball to then ride a tackle and score his try in the corner. Ralph Keyes then kicked the conversion to give Ireland an 18-15 lead, only for Australia to break Irish hearts just moments later with a match-winning try in the game’s dying seconds. The Wallabies would then go on to win the tournament.
The Ireland national side has yet to better this quarter-final finish, but despite the loss, this moment is still seen as one of the most special in the nation’s sporting history – particularly for Gordon Hamilton.
Somewhat ironically, he earned his final Irish cap a year later against Australia but not long after this a prolapsed disc in his back tragically forced Gordon Hamilton into an early retirement from the game.
After his playing career, Gordon Hamilton has run a number of successful businesses including a shipping firm and an animal feed trading company. However, he is still involved in the game to some degree and until 2016 he was the Chairman of the Professional Game Boards at Ulster Rugby and the Irish Rugby Football Union.
