The first set of two games were played in Dublin in February, with the remaining four games played in May 2011.[2][3] It was won by the Republic of Ireland, who won all three of their games without conceding a goal.[4][5]
History
The tournament was initially proposed by then Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez in 2006.[6] On 18 September 2008, the national football associations of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland announced plans to hold an international tournament in 2011.[7] The tournament was due to start in 2009, but was delayed until 2011 due to 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures already being in place.[8]
It was announced on 12 August 2010, that the tournament would be sponsored by brewing company Carling, and known for sponsorship reasons as the Carling Nations Cup.[1][9] The inaugural tournament was played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in February and May 2011, and won by the Republic of Ireland. A second tournament was provisionally scheduled to take place in Wales in 2013.[10] After the first tournament, which attracted some small attendances, there was a dispute about the division of revenues between the four associations.[10] Jim Shaw, the president of the Irish Football Association, said in January 2012 that he did not envisage a second tournament being staged.[10]
The 2011 Nations Cup began in February 2011 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The Republic of Ireland won the inaugural tournament after winning all three of their matches, culminating with a 1–0 win over Scotland on the final matchday. It was originally intended to be a biennial tournament, but poor attendance at the first tournament meant that it was discontinued.[2][11][12]
Format
The Nations Cup was structured as a round-robin, with each team playing each of the others once, resulting in a total of six games in each season of the competition.[1][2] Three of the teams involved (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) had formerly competed in the now defunct British Home Championship, along with England.[6] The Football Association of Wales stated its belief in 2007 that England might have joined at a later date if they could have been convinced that there were "practical solutions" to problems like fixture congestion.[13]
In early 2011, it was reported by BBC Sport that there was a possibility of the British Home Championship being revived in 2013,[14][15] but no tournament was held. The matches in the 2011 tournament were played in February and May, with the location due to rotate on a tournament-by-tournament basis.[16]Brittany also expressed an interest in taking part.[17]
Venue
The newly rebuilt Aviva Stadium was chosen to host all six games of the 2011 tournament.
The Football Association of Ireland was criticised by the media, supporters and other football associations for setting high ticket prices. The 51,700-capacity Aviva Stadium was less than half-full for all of the games.[19][20] The game between Wales and Northern Ireland was attended by only 529 fans, many of whom were Scots who happened to be in Dublin for their country's game two days later.
Northern Ireland fans were criticised for singing sectarian chants at games.[21] During the game between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Republic fans booed "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland fans booed the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, as she greeted players before the game.[22][23]Scotland fans also booed "God Save the Queen", when playing Northern Ireland.[24]
Wales manager Gary Speed criticised the tournament organisers for scheduling Wales' games to be within three days of each other, the only team to suffer such timing. He also criticised the officiating in the game against Scotland, in which in his opinion several fouls on Welsh players went unpunished.[25][26]
_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
.svg.png){kind=small}
.JPG)
