1952 British Home Championship

The 1952 British Home Championship was an international football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1951/52 season. In an unusual conclusion, Wales shared the championship with England, one of only four tournaments Wales would share victory in post-war. Northern Ireland by contrast endured one of their worst championships of the period, losing all three games and failing to score. Scotland too underperformed, although their two losses were both hard fought.

Scotland had kicked off the competition with an easy victory over Northern Ireland in the first match. England and Wales by contrast split the points, failing to breach a 1-1 draw at Ninian Park. England exerted their authority over the Irish in their second game with a simple win, whilst Wales performed the impressive feat of beating Scotland on their home turf with a hard-won 1-0 success. The final games were tensely contested, as Wales, hoping for an England failure at Hampden Park in their final game took the play to the Irish and ran out 3-0 winners. In Glasgow between England and Scotland, the tournament was decided by two Stan Pearson goals which gave England the victory and their half of the trophy. Had goal difference been used at this time to further separate the teams, then Wales would have won a rare individual victory, but this method of scoring was not introduced to the British Hom Championship until the Seventies.

Table

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

Results

----footballbox
date = October 6, 1951
team1 = fb-rt|Northern Ireland
score = 0–3
team2 = fb|Scotland
goals1 =
goals2 = Bobby Johnstone 2, Thomas Orr
stadium = Windsor Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = October 20, 1951
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 1–1
team2 = fb|England
goals1 = Bill Foulkes
goals2 = Eddie Baily
stadium = Ninian Park, Cardiff----footballbox
date = November 14, 1951
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 0–1
team2 = fb|Wales
goals1 =
goals2 = Ivor Allchurch
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow----footballbox
date = November 14, 1951
team1 = fb-rt|England
score = 2–0
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Nat Lofthouse 2
goals2 =
stadium = Villa Park, Birmingham----footballbox
date = March 19, 1952
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 3–0
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Walley Barnes, Ivor Allchurch, Roy Clarke
goals2 =
stadium = Vetch Field, Swansea----footballbox
date = April 5, 1952
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 1–2
team2 = fb|England
goals1 = Lawrie Reilly
goals2 = Stan Pearson 2
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