1901 British Home Championship

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The 1901 British Home Championship was an international football tournament between the British Home Nations. England won the competition with five points after strong victories over Wales and Ireland. Scotland too performed well, coming second with a win and two draws and racking up what remains their highest ever scoreline in an 11-0 demolition of the Irish in Glasgow.

Scotland's record win was the first match of the competition and saw hat-tricks by Sandy "Duke" McMahon and Bob Hamilton. In their second game however Scotland could not sustain their good form, resulting in a disappointing draw with a tough Welsh side who played well to gain their point. England entered the action next with a victory over the Irish, although the men in green limited the damage to just a three goal deficit. England then took the lead in the competition with a heavy 6-0 win over Wales, Steve Bloomer scoring four. In the final matches, Ireland and Wales played for pride, neither side being able at this stage to win the trophy. Wales eventually won the match 1-0. England and Scotland however fought out a furious encounter as both sides stood a good chance of winning. However by virtue of the Scottish draw with Wales, England needed only a draw to win the competition, a result they managed despite Scotland's resilience.

[edit] Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	5	3	2	1	0	11	2	+9
Scotland	4	3	1	2	0	14	3	+11
Wales	3	3	1	1	1	2	7	-5
Ireland	0	3	0	0	3	0	11	-15

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

[edit] Results

February 23, 1901	Scotland	11–0	Ireland	Celtic Park, Glasgow
	Sandy McMahon 4, Bob Hamilton 4, John Campbell 2, David Russell			Celtic Park, Glasgow

March 2, 1901	Wales	1–1	Scotland	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
	Thomas Parry		John Robertson	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham

March 9, 1901	England	3–0	Ireland	The Dell, Southampton
	Tip Foster 2, Tom Crawshaw			The Dell, Southampton

March 18, 1901	England	6–0	Wales	St James' Park, Newcastle
	Steve Bloomer 4, Tip Foster, Ernest Needham (P)			St James' Park, Newcastle

March 23, 1901	Ireland	0–1	Wales	Solitude Ground, Belfast
			John Jones	Solitude Ground, Belfast

March 30, 1901	England	2–2	Scotland	The Crystal Palace, London
	Fred Blackburn, Steve Bloomer		Bob Hamilton, John Campbell	The Crystal Palace, London