1885–86 British Home Championship

The 1885–86 British Home Championship was the third annual international football tournament played between the British Home Nations. As common for the time, the matches were punctuated by some high scorelines and for the first time two teams finished level on points at the top of the table, thus sharing the championship as goal difference would not be introduced to separate teams for over nearly 90 years.

England and Scotland were the joint winners, with Wales third and Ireland last with zero points. The tournament began in February 1886 with a match between Wales and Ireland which Wales won comfortably 5–0. Ireland next played against England and Scotland, suffering two heavy defeats in which they conceded 13 goals for three in reply. With the three leaders therefore equal on points, England and Scotland played their match, sharing points in a 1–1 draw. Wales then played against England and Scotland in the final games but lost both, resulting in England and Scotland sharing the title.

Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Scotland	5	3	2	1	0	12	4	+8
England	5	3	2	1	0	10	3	+7
Wales	2	3	1	0	2	7	7	0
Ireland	0	3	0	0	3	3	18	−15

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

Results

Wales v Ireland

27 February 1886

Wales	5–0	Ireland
Bill Roberts, Job Wilding, Richard Hersee, Thomas Bryan, Herbert Sisson

Racecourse Ground, Wrexham

Ireland v England

13 March 1886

Ireland	1–6	England
Jimmy Williams		Benjamin Spilsbury 4, Tinsley Lindley, Fred Dewhurst

Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast

Ireland v Scotland

20 March 1886

Ireland	2–7	Scotland
John Condy, Sam Johnson		Charles Heggie 4, John Lambie, Michael Dunbar, James Gourlay

Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast

Scotland v England

27 March 1886

Scotland	1–1	England
George Somerville		Tinsley Lindley

Cathkin Park, Glasgow

Wales v England

29 March 1886

Wales	1–3	England
William Lewis		George Brann, Fred Dewhurst, Andrew Amos

Racecourse Ground, Wrexham

Scotland v Wales

10 April 1886

Scotland	4–1	Wales
Bob McCormick, James McCall, David Allan, William Harrower		John Owen Vaughan

Cathkin Park, Glasgow

References

Guy Oliver (1992). The Guinness Record of World Soccer. Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-954-4.

British Home Championship

Football in the United Kingdom: England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Competitors	England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Seasons	1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 First World War 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 Second World War 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84

Rous Cup Nations Cup Home Nation matches since 1984

1885–86 in English football

« 1884–85 1886–87 »

FA competitions	FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds Final)

Related to national team	Home Championship

Club seasons	Bolton Wanderers Luton Town Millwall Rovers Newton Heath LYR (Manchester United) St. Mary's Y.M.A. (Southampton) Stoke West Bromwich Albion