1948–49 British Home Championship

The 1948–49 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations. The tournament was notable for it being the final competition the Home Nations competed in before they joined the FIFA World Cup and thus the last time it was the most important international football tournament in Britain.

England began the tournament the strongest with a 6–2 success over the Irish in Belfast. Scotland began well also, beating the Welsh in Cardiff, which they followed with a narrow success against Ireland in a highly competitive match. England too took maximum points from their second game with a close 1–0 win over the Welsh. In the final games, Wales beat Ireland to take third place whilst the Scots succeeded in strongly defeating England at Wembley Stadium to take the championship.

Table[]

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Scotland (C)	3	3	0	9	4	+5	6
England	3	2	1	8	5	+3	4
Wales	3	1	2	3	4	−1	2
Ireland	3	0	3	4	11	−7	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points. The points system worked as follows: 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.
(C) Champion

Results[]

9 October 1948

Ireland	2–6	England
Davy Walsh 2		Stan Mortensen 3 Stanley Matthews Jackie Milburn Stan Pearson

Windsor Park, Belfast

23 October 1948

Wales	1–3	Scotland
Barrie Jones 25'	Scottish FA	15' Hugh Howie 27', 43' William Waddell

Ninian Park, Cardiff

Attendance: 59,911

Referee: David Maxwell (Ireland)

10 November 1948

England	1–0	Wales
Tom Finney

Villa Park, Birmingham

Referee: Jack Mowat (Scotland)^[1]

17 November 1948

Scotland	3 – 2	Ireland
Billy Houliston 29', 89' Jimmy Mason 73'		1', 5' Davy Walsh

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 93,000

Referee: William H. Evans (England)

9 March 1949

Ireland	0–2	Wales
		George Edwards Trevor Ford

Windsor Park, Belfast

9 April 1949

England	1–3	Scotland
Jackie Milburn 75'		28' Jimmy Mason 52' Billy Steel 61' Lawrie Reilly

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 98,188

Referee: Mervyn Griffiths (Wales)

References[]

^ Matches refereed by John Mowatt

Guy Oliver (1992). The Guinness Record of World Soccer. Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-954-4.

[1] Matches refereed by John Mowatt

[1]

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Football in the United Kingdom: England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Competitors	England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland / Ireland
Seasons	1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 First World War 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 Second World War 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84
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