British Home Championship

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The British Home Championship (also known as the Home International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the UK's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (Northern Ireland after 1921-1922), from the 1883-1884 season until the 1983-1984 season.

1 Overview
2 Format and rules
3 Famous moments
4 List of winners
- 4.1 Total wins
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Overview

By the early 1880s, the development of football in the United Kingdom was gathering pace and the four national football teams of the UK were playing regular friendlies against each other, with nearly every team playing all the others annually. At the time, the football associations of each Home Nation (The Football Association (England), the Scottish Football Association, the Football Association of Wales and the Irish Football Association) had slightly different rules for football, and when matches were played the rules of whoever was the home team were used. While this solution was workable, it was hardly ideal. To remedy this, the four associations met in Manchester on December 6, 1882 and agreed on one uniform set of worldwide rules. They also established the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to approve changes to the rules (a task that they still perform to this day).

The new rules meant that formal international competitions could now easily be devised. Thus, at the same meeting, the associations formalised the annual friendlies and the British Home Championship - the world's first international football competition - was born.

The Championship was held every football season, starting with the 1883-1884 season (the first ever match seeing eventual winners Scotland beat Ireland 5-0 away on January 24, 1884). The dates of the fixtures varied, but they tended to bunch towards the end of the season (sometimes the entire competition was held in a few days at the end of the season). Initially, the winner of the competition was seen as the best team in the world, though as football developed globally this tag was dropped. The rise of other international competitions, especially the World Cup and European Championships, meant that the British Home Championship lost a lot of its prestige as the years went on.

However, the new international tournaments meant that the Championship took on added importance in certain years. The 1949-1950 and 1953-1954 Championships doubled up as qualifying groups for the 1950 and 1954 World Cups respectively and the results of the 1966-1967 and 1967-1968 Championships were used to determine who went forward to the second qualifying round of Euro '68.

The British Home Championship was discontinued after the 1983-1984 competition. There were a number of reasons for the tournament's demise, including it being overshadowed by the World Cup and European Championships, falling attendances at all but the England v Scotland games, fixture congestion, the rise of hooliganism to epidemic levels, the Troubles in Northern Ireland (civil unrest led to the 1981-1982 competition being abandoned), and England and Scotland's desire to play against 'stronger' teams. The fate of the competition was settled when the (English) Football Association, swiftly followed by the Scottish Football Association, announced in 1983 that they would not be entering after the 1983-1984 Championship. Ironically, the 'weaker' teams that England and Scotland no longer wanted to play excelled in the final Championship: Northern Ireland won it and Wales finished second. The British Home Championship trophy remains at the Irish Football Association's headquarters in Belfast.

The Championship was replaced by the smaller Rous Cup, which involved just England, Scotland and, in later years, an invited guest team from South America. That competition, however, ended after just five years.

In recent years, there have been many proposals to resurrect the British Home Championship, with advocates pointing to rising attendances and a significant downturn in football-related violence. It has been suggested that a reborn Championship could replace the international friendlies played by the UK teams between competitive fixtures, which some view as pointless. Qualifying for the 2006 World Cup saw a rise in interest for the rebirth of the British Home Championship, as England, Wales and Northern Ireland were paired in one group, giving it a distinctly nostalgic feel. This was especially apparent at the match in Belfast between Northern Ireland and England, where many Northern Irish fans displayed banners celebrating the fact that they were reigning 'British Champions'.

[edit] Format and rules

The competition was contested with each team playing the other three once each (making for a total of three matches per team and six matches in total). Generally (but not always), the teams would play either one or two matches at home and the remainder away, with home advantage between two teams alternating each year (so if England played Scotland at home one year, they would play them away the next).

A team would receive two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. From these points, a league table was constructed and whoever was top at the end of the competition was declared the winner. If two or more teams were equal on points, that position in the league table was shared (as was the Championship if it occurred between the top teams). From the 1978-1979 Championship onwards, however, goal difference (total goals scored minus total goals conceded) was used to differentiate between teams level on points. If goal difference could still not separate them, then total goals scored was used.

[edit] Famous moments

[edit] 1902: tragedy at Ibrox

The Scotland v England match of April 5, 1902 will always be remembered for the Ibrox Disaster of 1902. The match took place at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow. During the first half, a section of the terracing in the overcrowded West Stand collapsed, killing twenty-six and injuring over 500. Play was stopped, but, incredibly, was restarted after twenty minutes, with most of the crowd not knowing what had happened. The match was later declared void and replayed at Villa Park, Birmingham.

[edit] 1950: World Cup qualification

As stated above, the 1949-1950 British Home Championship was used as a qualification group for the Football World Cup 1950, with the teams finishing both first and second qualifying. England and Scotland were guaranteed the top two places and World Cup qualification with one match to go, when the Scottish Football Association declared that it would only go to the 1950 World Cup if they were the British champions. Scotland played England at Hampden Park on April 15 in the final game and lost 1-0 to a goal by Chelsea's Roy Bentley, dubbed 'the man who robbed Scotland of Rio'. Consequently, Scotland finished second and withdrew from what would have been their first-ever World Cup appearance.

[edit] 1967: Scotland become 'World Champions'

The 1966-1967 British Home Championship was the first since England's victory at the World Cup 1966. Naturally, England were favourites for the Championship title. In the end, the outcome of the entire Championship rested on the final game: England v Scotland at Wembley Stadium in London on April 15. If England won or drew, they would win the Championship; if Scotland won, they would triumph. Scotland beat the World Cup winners 3-2. The match was followed by a large, but relatively harmless, pitch invasion by the jubilant Scottish fans, who were quick to jokingly declare Scotland the 'World Champions', as the game was England's first defeat since winning the World Cup. The Scots' joke ultimately led to the conception of the Unofficial Football World Championships.

[edit] 1977: Wembley pitch invasion

Once again, the 1976-1977 Championship came down to the final game between England and Scotland at Wembley on June 4. Scotland won the game 2-1, making them Champions. Like 1967, a pitch invasion by the overjoyed Scottish fans followed, but it was now the height of hooliganism and extensive damage ensued: the pitch was ripped up and taken back to Scotand in small pieces along with one of the broken crossbars.

[edit] 1981: the unfinished Championship

The Troubles in Northern Ireland had affected the British Home Championship before, with things turning so hostile that Northern Ireland often had to play their 'home' games in Liverpool or Glasgow. The entire 1980-1981 Championship was held in May 1981, which coincided with a large amount of civil unrest in Northern Ireland surrounding the Maze Prison hunger strikes. Northern Ireland's two home matches, against England and Wales, were not moved, so both teams refused to travel to Belfast to play. As not all the matches were completed, that year's competition was declared void with no winner. It was the only time in the Championship's history, apart from during World War I and World War II, that it was not awarded.

[edit] List of winners

1883-1884: Scotland
1884-1885: Scotland
1885-1886: England / Scotland
1886-1887: Scotland
1887-1888: England
1888-1889: Scotland
1889-1890: England / Scotland
1890-1891: England
1891-1892: England
1892-1893: England
1893-1894: Scotland
1894-1895: England
1895-1896: Scotland
1896-1897: Scotland
1897-1898: England
1898-1899: England
1899-1900: Scotland
1900-1901: England
1901-1902: Scotland
1902-1903: England / Scotland / Ireland
1903-1904: England
1904-1905: England
1905-1906: England / Scotland
1906-1907: Wales
1907-1908: England / Scotland
1908-1909: England
1909-1910: Scotland
1910-1911: England
1911-1912: England / Scotland
1912-1913: England
1913-1914: Ireland
1914-1919: Suspended due to World War I
1919-1920: Wales
1920-1921: Scotland
1921-1922: Scotland
1922-1923: Scotland
1923-1924: Wales
1924-1925: Scotland
1925-1926: Scotland
1926-1927: England / Scotland
1927-1928: Wales
1928-1929: Scotland
1929-1930: England
1930-1931: England / Scotland
1931-1932: England
1932-1933: Wales
1933-1934: Wales
1935-1936: Scotland
1936-1937: Wales
1937-1938: England
1938-1939: England / Scotland / Wales
1939-1946: Suspended due to World War II
1946-1947: England
1947-1948: England
1948-1949: Scotland
1949-1950: England
1950-1951: Scotland
1951-1952: England / Wales
1952-1953: England / Scotland
1953-1954: England
1954-1955: England
1955-1956: England / Scotland / Wales / Northern Ireland
1956-1957: England
1957-1958: England / Northern Ireland
1958-1959: England / Northern Ireland
1959-1960: England / Scotland / Wales
1960-1961: England
1961-1962: Scotland
1962-1963: Scotland
1963-1964: England / Scotland / Northern Ireland
1964-1965: England
1965-1966: England
1966-1967: Scotland
1967-1968: England
1968-1969: England
1969-1970: England / Scotland / Wales
1970-1971: England
1971-1972: England / Scotland
1972-1973: England
1973-1974: England / Scotland
1974-1975: England
1975-1976: Scotland
1976-1977: Scotland
1977-1978: England
1978-1979: England
1979-1980: Northern Ireland
1980-1981: Abandoned due to civil unrest in Northern Ireland
1981-1982: England
1982-1983: England
1983-1984: Northern Ireland

[edit] Total wins

54 England (including 20 shared)
41 Scotland (including 17 shared)
12 Wales (including 5 shared)
8 Northern Ireland (including 5 shared)

[edit] External links

Football in the United Kingdom v • d • e
National teams: England \| Northern Ireland \| Scotland \| Wales \| UK
UK-wide national team competitions: British Home Championship \| Rous Cup
UK-wide club competitions: Empire Exhibition Trophy \| Coronation Cup \| Texaco Cup \| Anglo-Scottish Cup
Football in... England \| Scotland \| Wales \| Northern Ireland