1955 British Home Championship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1955 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1954/55 football season. It was won by a strong England side which included players such as Johnny Haynes and Nat Lofthouse as well as future manager Don Revie. England and Scotland, had competed at the 1954 FIFA World Cup in the summer before the tournament began and both teams had struggled, eventually being knocked out by Uruguay, Scotland by a 7-0 margin.

England began the tournament as favourites and proved their status with a simple victory over Northern Ireland in their first match. Scotland matched this with a difficult win over Wales in their match, although only by one goal to nil. Both Wales and Northern Ireland improved in their second matches, the Irish holding Scotland to a 2-2 draw whilst the Welsh almost achieved the same against England in London, eventually losing 3-2. The final games were played at the conclusion of the domestic season, and saw Northern Ireland fall to the Welsh under their inspirational goalscorer John Charles, who netted a hat trick in a 3-2 victory. England had by this time taken the championship with a comprehensive demoilition of Scotland 7-2 in their final match, Dennis Wilshaw claiming four of the goals.

[edit] Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	6	3	3	0	0	12	4	+8
Scotland	3	3	1	1	1	5	9	-4
Wales	2	3	1	0	2	5	6	-1
Northern Ireland	1	3	0	1	2	4	7	-3

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

[edit] Results

October 2, 1954	Northern Ireland	0–2	England	Windsor Park, Belfast
			Johnny Haynes, Don Revie	Windsor Park, Belfast

October 16, 1954	Wales	0–1	Scotland	Ninian Park, Cardiff
			Paddy Buckley	Ninian Park, Cardiff

November 3, 1954	Scotland	2–2	Northern Ireland	Hampden Park, Glasgow
	Jimmy Davidson, Bobby Johnstone		Billy Bingham, Billy McAdams	Hampden Park, Glasgow

November 10, 1954	England	3–2	Wales	Wembley Stadium, London
	Roy Bentley 3		John Charles 2	Wembley Stadium, London

April 2, 1955	England	7–2	Scotland	Wembley Stadium, London
	Dennis Wilshaw 4, Nat Lofthouse 2, Don Revie		Lawrie Reilly, Tommy Docherty	Wembley Stadium, London