1971–72 British Home Championship

The 1971–72 British Home Championship was the first such Home Nations football tournament (although not the last), to suffer during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, when death threats from the Provisional Irish Republican Army were sent to the Scottish Football Association and Scottish players who were scheduled to play at Windsor Park. The surge in anti-British feeling which prompted these threats followed Bloody Sunday in January, and also resulted in the cancellation of the rugby union 1972 Five Nations Championship. As a result, Northern Ireland's home fixture was rescheduled to Hampden Park, effectively granting the Scottish team an extra home match. This was not the last time that The Troubles would interfere with the Home Championship; the 1981 British Home Championship would have to be abandoned following similar heightened tension after the death of Bobby Sands.

Scotland used their home advantage well, securing victory over the Irish and Welsh to take a major points advantage into the final match against England, who had lost at home to Northern Ireland following a heavy defeat of Wales. In the last match however, England gained a slight advantage over their old rivals, winning 1–0 and thus equalling the tournament on points and resulting in a shared victory (goal difference was not at this stage used to differentiate between teams). The Welsh salvaged a point in their final home game to Northern Ireland, but still finished bottom of the table.

Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	4	3	2	0	1	4	1	+3
Scotland	4	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2
Northern Ireland	3	3	1	1	1	1	2	−1
Wales	1	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

Results

20 May 1972

Wales	0 – 3	England
		Hughes 25' Marsh 60' Bell 61'

Ninian Park, Cardiff

Attendance: 34,000

Referee:

William Mullan

20 May 1972

Scotland	2 – 0	Northern Ireland
Law 86' Lorimer 89'

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 39,710

Referee:

Clive Thomas

23 May 1972

England	0 – 1	Northern Ireland
		Neill 33'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 64,000

Referee:

John Gow

24 May 1972

Scotland	1 – 0	Wales
Lorimer 78'

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 21,332

Referee:

James Lawther

27 May 1972

Wales	0 – 0	Northern Ireland

Racecourse Ground, Wrexham

Attendance: 15,647

Referee:

Jack Taylor

27 May 1972

Scotland	0 – 1	England
		Ball 28'

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 119,325

Referee:

Sergio Gonella

References

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

External links

Full Results and Line-ups

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British Home Championship
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
Rous Cup Nations Cup Matches outside the British Home Championship