BRITISH CHAMPIONS

British Championship games, also known as the Home Internationals, are fondly remembered by those of us over 30. Played at the end of the domestic season they where a chance for the Ulster public to see the top English and Scottish stars of the time in the flesh. Each team played against the 3 other British sides once each year, in Northern Irelands case it was home games against England and Wales and away to Scotland, the following year the fixtures were reversed. The games were also popular with the mainland based players who enjoyed a chance to play against their club team mates in a competitive game.

First played for in 1883-84, the Scots were the inaugural champions. Northern Ireland finished bottom of the table after losing 0-5 to Scotland, 0-6 against Wales and 1-8 to England. All these games were played at home! The matches were usually fitted in over a season but in the 1969 it was decided to play them over a week at the end of the season.

Over the 100 years they were contested, Northern Ireland won the trophy outright only three times, 1913-14, 1979-80 and 1983-84. They also shared the Championship on five occasions, 1902-03, 1955-56, 1957-58, 1958-59 and 1963-64.

Due to WW1 and WW2 the Championship was naturally suspended and the civil unrest in Northern Ireland during the early seventies also effected the Championship. Northern Ireland home games for the 1971-72, 1972-73 and 1973-74 Championship could not be played in Belfast, the England and Wales ‘home’ games were played in Liverpool and the Scotland games in Glasgow. England and Wales returned to Belfast in 1975, the Scots did not come back until 1980. Due to the situation in Northern Ireland during May 1981, England and Wales understandably refused to travel to Belfast and the championship for that year was declared void.

In 1983 the English and Scottish F.A. announced that the 1983-84 Championship would be the last they would take part in. Instead they would be competing in a triangular tournament with another invited country. This effectively saw an end to the oldest international tournament as it was not viable for just Northern Ireland and Wales to carry the Championship on. The excuse at the time was that England and Scotland wanted more competitive opposition, basically England and Scotland thought they were too good for us. A bit of a lame excuse when you consider, especially in Northern Irelands case, our team at that time. World Cup quarter finalists in 1982 and missing out on Euro 84 by goal difference, after beating West Germany home and away.

It came down to money. The English and Scots public weren’t turning out for the visits of the Northern Irish or Welsh. On the other hand the visits of England and Scotland were vital to Northern Ireland and Wales, not only though the gate money but from the sale of TV rights. In the programme for our last home game in the championship, against Scotland in 1983-84, the then I.F.A. president Harry Cavan summed it up perfectly.

This is a sad and serious blow to the I.F.A. because of the substantial financial loss which will be almost impossible to recover. We are therefore gravely disappointed and sad that 100 years of genuine friendship, sporting tradition and close co-operation seems to have been sacrificed for financial expediency.

It was traditional for the Championship to be shared if the top team finished on equal points with another team. The final Championships would be different. If a team finished on equal points with another, the destiny of the trophy would be decided on goal difference. The best answer to the English and the Scots who considered Northern Ireland not good enough opposition was to win the final Championship. With the help of the goal difference rule, Northern Ireland did just that, and took the trophy back to Belfast where it still proudly sits today.

 

Northern Ireland -The British Champions

19 Jan 1914	14 Feb 1914	14 Mar 1914
v.	v.	v.
WALES	ENGLAND	SCOTLAND
2-1	3-0	1-1
Young, Gillespie	Lacey 2, Gillespie	Young
Wrexham	Middlesbrough	Belfast

With the Great War on the horizon, Ireland started the series with a win in Wrexham against the Welsh. Three weeks later they traveled to Teeside, and for the second year in a row, shocked England, this time with a 3-0 win. The previous year Ireland had beaten England for the first time, Billy Gillespie scoring twice. Gillespie once again scored along with a double from Billy Lacey. A draw was needed to clinch Irelands first British Championship and a month later in front of the Windsor crowd this was achieved against Scotland.

[Back L-R] Tommy Cassidy (Newcastle Utd), Billy Hamilton (Burnley), Noel Brotherston (Blackburn Rov), Mal Donaghy (Luton Town), Chris Nicholl (Southampton), John McClelland (Mansfield Town)

[Front L-R] Jim Platt (Middlesbrough), Jimmy Nicholl (Man Utd), Sammy McIlroy (Man Utd), Martin O'Neill (Nottingham Forest), Gerry Armstrong (Spurs)

[Not included in picture] John O'Neill (Leicester City), David McCreery (QPR), Tom Finney (Cambridge Utd), Terry Cochrane (Middlesbrough)

16 May 1980	20 May 1980	23 May 1980
v.	v.	v.
SCOTLAND	ENGLAND	WALES
1-0	1-1	1-0
Hamilton	Cochrane	Brotherston
Belfast	Wembley	Cardiff
Att 18000	Att 35000	Att 12913

With away trips to Wembley and Cardiff in the 1979-80 series things did not look good for Northern Ireland. Scotland, on their first visit to Windsor for 10 years, were sent home to think again by a Billy Hamilton goal. A midweek draw against England came a couple of days later, with Northern Ireland players scoring both goals! Terry Cochrane, on as a sub, getting an equalizer straight from the restart, after Noel Brotherston put into his own goal. Northern Ireland set off for Cardiff knowing a win would give them the Championship. The Welsh had hammered England 4-1 the previous week so it wouldn’t be an easy task. In the end another Noel Brotherston goal, this time in the right net, sealed victory and Northern Ireland were British Champions for the first time in 66 years. This victory was especially fitting as 1980 was the centenary of the I.F.A.

[Back L-R] Gerry McElhinney (Bolton Wanderers), John McVey (physio), Gerry Armstrong (Real Mallorca), John McClelland (Rangers), Pat Jennings (Arsenal), George Dunlop (Linfield), John O'Neill (Leicester City), Paul Ramsey (Leicester City), Billy Hamilton (Oxford Utd), Derek McKinley (attendant)

[Front L-R] Mal Donaghy (Luton Town), Ian Stewart (QPR), Nigel Worthington (Sheff Wed), Jimmy Nicholl (Toronto Blizzard), Billy Bingham (manager), Martin O'Neill (Notts County), Norman Whiteside (Man Utd), Stephen Penney (Brighton), David McCreery (Newcastle Utd) [Not pictured] Terry Cochrane (Gillingham)

The last home game of the Championship was played on a cold December night at a strangely muted Windsor Park. The odd atmosphere was due to the building site, running from goal line to goal line where the North Stand was under construction. The thin corrugated iron fence protecting the site did nothing for the acoustics. The atmosphere didn’t seem to effect the players, Northern Ireland strolling to a 2-0 win, Norman Whiteside and Sammy McIlroy getting the goals. A spring trip to Wembley followed and a battling Northern Ireland went down 1-0. The way other results in the group went, all the teams went into the final game on equal points. Northern Irelands final game in the Championship was a 1-1 draw in Swansea against Wales, Gerry Armstrong getting the goal.

As this was the last time the Championship was to be played it had been decided that instead of sharing the trophy if teams finished on equal points, goal difference would come into play. This meant that if England and Scotland played out a draw in the last group game, Northern Ireland would be Champions. While the team were in Finland preparing for their first game of the 1986 World Cup campaign the news came though. The Scotland England game finished 1-1 meaning that Northern Ireland were the last ever British Champions.