1931 British Home Championship

The 1931 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1930–31 season. The trophy was shared between England and Scotland as at the time a win was only worth two points and a draw one. Thus despite England's dominace of the opening matches, their defeat to Scotland in the final game gave the Scots a share in the victory even though it was the only game they won.

England began the tournament in commanding fashion, with heavy defeats of Ireland and Wales in their opening matches. Scotland by contrast struggled, only managing draws with both opponents and coming close to being upset in both matches. Going into the final match, England were already assured of a winners position, and only needed to draw with Scotland to take the position unopposed. However this proved beyond them as the Scots ran out 2–0 winners in Glasgow. In the competition's final match, Wales and Ireland fought a furious battle for third place, with the Welsh just edging the victory 3–2.

Table

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

The points system worked as follows:

Results

20 October 1930
England  5 – 1  Ireland Bramall Lane, Sheffield
Harry Burgess 2, Jimmy Hampson, Sammy Crooks, Eric Houghton Jimmy Dunne

25 October 1930
Scotland  1 – 1  Wales Ibrox Park, Glasgow
Barney Battles Tommy Bamford

22 November 1930
Wales  0 – 4  England Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
  Jimmy Hampson 2, Gordon Hodgson, Joe Bradford

21 February 1931
Ireland  0 – 0  Scotland Windsor Park, Belfast
   

29 March 1931
Scotland  2 – 0  England Hampden Park, Glasgow
George Stevenson, Jimmy McGrory  

22 April 1931
Wales  3 – 2  Ireland Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Charlie Phillips, Tommy Griffiths, Freddie Warren Jimmy Dunne, R.W.M. Rowley

References