1948–49 British Home Championship

The 1948-49 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations. The tournament was notable for it being the final competition the Home Nations competed in before they joined the FIFA World Cup and thus the last time it was the most important international football tournament in Britain.

England began the tournament the strongest with a 7–2 success over the Irish in Belfast. Scotland began well also, beating the Welsh in Cardiff, which they followed with a narrow success against Ireland in a highly competitive match. England too took maximum points from their second game with a close 1–0 win over the Welsh. In the final games, Wales beat Ireland to take third place whilst the Scots succeeded in strongly defeating England at Wembley Stadium to take the championship.

Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD
Scotland	6	3	3	0	9	4	+5
England	4	3	2	1	8	5	+3
Wales	2	3	1	2	3	4	−1
Ireland	0	3	0	3	4	11	−7

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

Results

Ireland v England

9 October 1948

Ireland	2 – 6	England
Davy Walsh 2		Stan Mortensen 3, Stanley Matthews, Jackie Milburn, Stan Pearson

Windsor Park, Belfast

Wales v Scotland

23 October 1948

Wales	1 – 3	Scotland
Barrie Jones		William Waddell 2, Hugh Howie

Ninian Park, Cardiff

England v Wales

10 November 1948

England	1 – 0	Wales
Tom Finney

Villa Park, Birmingham

Scotland v Ireland

17 November 1948

Scotland	3 – 2	Ireland
William Houliston 2, Jimmy Mason		Davy Walsh 2

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Ireland v Wales

9 March 1949

Ireland	0 – 2	Wales
		George Edwards, Trevor Ford

Windsor Park, Belfast

England v Scotland

9 April 1949

England	1 – 3	Scotland
Jackie Milburn		Lawrie Reilly, Jimmy Mason, Billy Steel

Wembley Stadium, London

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