1893 British Home Championship

The 1893 British Home Championship was an international football tournament between the British Home Nations. The competition was won and dominated by England, who beat all three rival teams and scored 17 goals in just three matches. Fred Spiksley claimed four and Walter Gilliat scored a hat-trick in the competition's opening game. Scotland came second with victories over Ireland and Wales, who finished third and fourth respectively.

England began the strongest team, scoring twelve goals in the first two games against the Irish and the Welsh with only one in reply. Scotland too began well, winning their match against Wales in Wales by eight goals to nil before netting another six in a rout of Ireland at home. In the final games England and Scotland played a match in London which England easily won 5-2 to whitewash their opponents and take the trophy. In a concilation game in Belfast, Ireland beat Wales 4-3 in a thrilling encounter to finish third.

The official attendance for the England v. Scotland match was 16,000; the crowd was so large that it was forced to stand in front of the journalists who were therefore prevented from seeing all of the action. Consequently, there is some dispute over the goal-scorers and several sources claim that Fred Spiksley actually scored a hat-trick, although this is not credited in any of the official references.

Table

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

Results

footballbox
date = February 25, 1893
team1 = fb-rt|ENG
score = 6–1
team2 = fb|IRE
goals1 = Walter Gilliat 3, Gilbert Smith, William Winckworth, Rupert Sandilands
goals2 = George Gaffkin
stadium = Perry Barr, Birmingham----footballbox
date = March 13, 1893
team1 = fb-rt|ENG
score = 6–0
team2 = fb|WAL
goals1 = Fred Spiksley 2, Billy Bassett, Johnny Goodall, Jack Reynolds, Joe Schofield
goals2 =
stadium = Victoria Ground, Stoke----footballbox
date = March 18, 1893
team1 = fb-rt|WAL
score = 0–8
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 =
goals2 = Jake Madden 4, John Barker 3, William Lambie
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = March 25, 1893
team1 = fb-rt|SCO
score = 6–1
team2 = fb|IRE
goals1 = William Sellar 2, Sandy McMahon, James Hamilton, James Kelly, "Own Goal" (Samuel Torrans)
goals2 = George Gaffkin
stadium = Celtic Park, Glasgow----footballbox
date = April 1, 1893
team1 = fb-rt|ENG
score = 5–2
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 = Fred Spiksley 2, Robert Gosling, George Cotterill, Jack Reynolds
goals2 = Thomas Waddell, William Sellar
stadium = Athletic Ground, Richmond----footballbox
date = April 8, 1893
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 4–3
team2 = fb|WAL
goals1 = John Peden 3, J. M. Wilton
goals2 = George A. Owen
stadium = Cliftonville Ground, Belfast

References

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