1896 British Home Championship

The 1896 British Home Championship was an edition of the annual international football tournament played between the British Home Nations. Despite England achieving an almost record 9-1 victory over Wales, the trophy was won by Scotland who won two and drew one of their matches, the draw coming in a hard-fought duel with Ireland.

Wales and Ireland kicked off the tournament with the Welsh heavily defeating the Irish in Wrexham. England too beat the Irish in their opening game, although by a smaller scoreline and England then achieved their 9-1 victory over Wales with Steve Bloomer scoring five, an England record. Scotland too beat Wales, scoring four without reply before being held by the Irish in an exciting and close match. In the final game at Celtic Park, England and Scotland played for the trophy, England only needing adraw whilst the Scots required a win to take the tournament. In a close and dramatic game, Scotland narrowly beat the English 2-1 and won the championship.

Table

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

Results

footballbox
date = February 29, 1896
team1 = fb-rt|WAL
score = 6–1
team2 = fb|IRE
goals1 = William Lewis 2, Billy Meredith 2, David Pugh, Grenville Morris
goals2 = A. Turner
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = March 7, 1896
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 0–2
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 =
goals2 = Gilbert Smith, Steve Bloomer
stadium = Solitude Ground, Belfast----footballbox
date = March 15, 1896
team1 = fb-rt|WAL
score = 1–9
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 = Thomas Chapman
goals2 = Steve Bloomer 5, Gilbert Smith 2, Billy Bassett, Johnny Goodall
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = March 21, 1896
team1 = fb-rt|SCO
score = 4–0
team2 = fb|WAL
goals1 = Robert Neil 2, Alexander Keillor, Daniel Paton
goals2 =
stadium = Carolina Port, Dundee----footballbox
date = March 28, 1896
team1 = fb-rt|IRE
score = 3–3
team2 = fb|SCO
goals1 = James Barron 2, Robert Milne (P)
goals2 = Bob McColl 2, Patrick Murray
stadium = Solitude Ground, Belfast----footballbox
date = April 4, 1896
team1 = fb-rt|SCO
score = 2–1
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 = William Lambie, Jack Bell
goals2 = Billy Bassett
stadium = Celtic 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