Billy Hamilton (footballer)

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For other persons named William Hamilton, see William Hamilton (disambiguation).

William Robert Hamilton, (born in Belfast, 9 May 1957), is a former Northern Irish footballer who played as a forward.

At club level, Billy played for Linfield, QPR, Burnley, and Oxford United. Billy is best remembered by Northern Ireland fans as the man who crossed the ball for Gerry Armstrong to score for Northern Ireland in their famous win against the hosts Spain at the 1982 FIFA World Cup. In total, Billy played 41 games, scoring 5 goals, for his country.

He is also remembered fondly by Distillery F.C. fans. He was a sensational signing by the club as Player/Manager in December 1989. He made his playing debut for the Whites on 22-3-90 and in his three seasons he made 72 appearances and scored 33 goals including one hat-trick. Knee injuries forced him to end his playing career in February 1992, but he continued to manage the team up until February 1995. He guided the club to the Gold Cup victory in 1993/94 season.

He now runs a sports trophy shop in Bangor.

	Northern Ireland squad - 1982 World Cup
1 Jennings | 2 J. Nicholl | 3 Donaghy | 4 McCreery | 5 C. Nicholl | 6 J. O'Neill | 7 Brotherston | 8 M. O'Neill | 9 Armstrong | 10 McIlroy | 11 Hamilton | 12 McClelland | 13 Nelson | 14 Cassidy | 15 Finney | 16 Whiteside | 17 Platt | 18 Jameson | 19 Healy | 20 Cleary | 21 Campbell | 22 Dunlop | Coach: Bingham

	Northern Ireland squad - 1986 World Cup
1 Jennings | 2 Nicholl | 3 Donaghy | 4 O'Neill | 5 McDonald | 6 McCreery | 7 Penney | 8 McIlroy | 9 Quinn | 10 Whiteside | 11 Stewart | 12 Platt | 13 Hughes | 14 Armstrong | 15 Worthington | 16 Ramsey | 17 Clarke | 18 McClelland | 19 Hamilton | 20 McNally | 21 Campbell | 22 Caughey | Coach: Bingham