1886 British Home Championship

The 1886 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

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

Results

footballbox
date = February 27, 1886
team1 = fb-rt|WAL
score = 5–0
team2 = fb|IRE
goals1 = William Roberts, Job Wilding, Richard Hersee, Thomas Bryan, Herbert Sisson
goals2 =
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = March 13, 1886
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 1–6
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 = Jimmy Williams
goals2 = Benjamin Spilsbury 4, Tinsley Lindley 2, Fred Dewhurst
stadium = Ballynafeigh Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = March 20, 1886
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 2–7
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 = John Condy, Sam Johnson
goals2 = Charles Heggie 4, John Lambie, Michael Dunbar, James Gourlay
stadium = Ballynafeigh Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = March 27, 1886
team1 = fb-rt|SCO
score = 1–1
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 = George Somerville
goals2 = Tinsley Lindley
stadium = Cathkin Park, Glasgow----footballbox
date = March 29, 1886
team1 = fb-rt|WAL
score = 1–3
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 = William Lewis
goals2 = George Brann, Fred Dewhurst, Andrew Amos
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = April 10, 1886
team1 = fb-rt|SCO
score = 4–1
team2 = fb|WAL
goals1 = Robert McCormick, James McCall, David Allan, William Harrower
goals2 = John Owen Vaughn
stadium = Cathkin 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