Larry Ryan: RTÉ loses a unique jewel in the joy of George Hamilton

This week, many people across social media have mentioned George’s big moment, but even more have been trading small moments that didn’t quite melt into oblivion.

GO WITH THE FLOW: RTÉ commentator George Hamilton during the World Cup 2022 qualifying group A match between Republic of Ireland and Serbia at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

A couple of months after his Aguerooooo moment, Martin Tyler was approached by a Premier League manager who said to him ‘well done’. Tyler deflected the praise to the Argentinian, but the manager stopped him. “No, you could have fucked it up.” 

Maybe that sums up perfectly the value of the great commentators. Almost everything they do blends into sport’s background noise. Sure they constantly trigger fury and abuse and accusations of bias. But mostly their carefully researched words melt into oblivion. Ninety minutes of disposable backing track.