1982 British Home Championship

The 1982 British Home Championship between the British Home Nations was won by a dominant England football team which won all three of its matches as the tournament returned after being abandoned in 1981 due to civil distubances in Northern Ireland. The championship was eagerly awaited because for the first time since 1958, three of the Home Nations were featuring in a World Cup; the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain and this was a chance to see them in competitive action before the World Cup began. The end-of-season format that had been used throughout the 1970's was dropped as it was felt three games in eight days was too intense at the end of a season and prior to a World Cup. The English began impressively with a heavy victory over Northern Ireland at home, followed by victory away in Wales. The Scots could only manage a draw with the disappointing Irish by contrast although they did beat Wales. The Welsh managed to salvage a result in their third game with a 3-0 defeat of Northern Ireland to claim third place. In the final deciding match in Glasgow, England edged victory through a Paul Mariner goal and thus claimed the championship. In the world cup, Scotland were eliminated in the first round whilst England went out in the second round without losing a game. The unfancied Irish however provided a shock by beating hosts Spain and eliminating Yugoslavia in the first round before falling victim to the inspired French in round two.

Table

The points system worked as follows:
* 2 points for a win
* 1 point for a drawThe teams were then divided on goal difference

Results

footballbox
date = February 23, 1982
team1 = fb-rt|England
score = 4–0
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Bryan Robson, Kevin Keegan, Ray Wilkins,
Glenn Hoddle
goals2 =
stadium = Wembley Stadium, London----footballbox
date = April 27, 1982
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 0–1
team2 = fb|England
goals1 =
goals2 = Trevor Francis
stadium = Ninian Park, Cardiff----footballbox
date = April 28, 1982
team1 = fb-rt|Northern Ireland
score = 1–1
team2 = fb|Scotland
goals1 = Sammy McIlroy
goals2 = John Wark
stadium = Windsor Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = May 24, 1982
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 1–0
team2 = fb|Wales
goals1 = Asa Hartford
goals2 =
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow----footballbox
date = May 27, 1982
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 3–0
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Ian Rush, Alan Curtis, Peter Nicholas
goals2 =
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = May 29, 1982
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 0–1
team2 = fb|England
goals1 =
goals2 = Paul Mariner
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow

References

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