1913 British Home Championship

The 1913 British Home Championship was an international football tournament between the British Home Nations. An evenly matched tournament, all four sides won at least one game and the competition could have gone any way, as Ireland showed the following year when they won their first undisputed tournament. In the event, the trophy went to England courtesy of a single goal victory over Scotland at Stamford Bridge in the final match. Scotland shared second place with Wales after both teams achieved three points and Ireland finished last with two.

Wales began the strongest team, beating Ireland 1-0 in Belfast. Ireland responded well to this defeat, winning against eventual champions England 2-1 in a tough game at Windsor Park. Wales and Scotland played out a scoreless draw in their match, leaving Wales on top of the table temporarily and Scotland flagging. The Scots recovered in their match against Ireland with a 2-1 victory away in Dublin before England recovered after a faltering start to win a gripping match against Wales 4-3 in Bristol. In the final game of the competition, England were trailing Scotland by a single point and knew that a loss could give the trophy to Scotland and Wales while a draw would leave all three teams sharing the championship. In another tough game, both sides played well but England snatched victory 1-0 and became champions for the third year in a row.

Table

The points system worked as follows:
* 2 points for a win
* 1 point for a draw

Results

footballbox
date = January 18, 1913
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 0–1
team2 = fb|WAL
goals1 =
goals2 = James Roberts
stadium = Grosvenor Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = February 15, 1913
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 2–1
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 = Billy Gillespie 2
goals2 = Charles Buchan
stadium = Windsor Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = March 3, 1913
team1 = fb-rt|WAL
score = 0–0
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = March 15, 1913
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 1–2
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 = James McKnight
goals2 = William Reid, Alex Bennett
stadium = Dalymount Park, Dublin----footballbox
date = March 17, 1913
team1 = fb-rt|ENG
score = 4–3
team2 = fb|WAL
goals1 = Harold Fleming, Eddie Latheron, Joseph McCall, Harry Hampton
goals2 = Walter Davies, Ernest Peake, Billy Meredith
stadium = Ashton Gate, Bristol----footballbox
date = April 5, 1913
team1 = fb-rt|ENG
score = 1–0
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 = Harry Hampton
goals2 =
stadium = Stamford Bridge, London

References

*cite book
author= Guy Oliver| title=The Guinness Record of World Soccer
date=1992
publisher=Guinness
id=ISBN 0-851129-54-4