1980 British Home Championship

The 1980 British Home Championship saw only the second undisputed victory for Northern Ireland in the British Home Nations international football tournament in 96 years of existence. The tournament also finally marked the end of a decade of extremely poor international football results for all the Home Nations. Apart from disappointing Scottish performances in the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups, no British side had been represented at a major football tournament since England were knocked out by Germany at the 1970 FIFA World Cup. In 1980, England finally qualified for the 1980 UEFA European Championship and although their performance was unspectacular it did lay the ground work for the appearance of three of the Home Nations at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. The Home Championships thus allowed spectators and coaches an impression of the reorganised British sides and their capabilities in competitive football.

The opening matches provided two great shocks for the long-established favourites of England and Scotland, with a narrow Northern Irish home victory over the Scots and a Welsh 4-1 thrashing of the English, putting the underdogs in pole position going into their remaining rounds. Scotland recovered slightly with a narrow victory over the Welsh, but England could only manage a draw with the Northern Irish, who were in the best position to claim undisputed first place for 66 years. In the final matches, England salvaged pride and points with a win over the Scots taking them to second place, but the Northern Irish claimed the trophy by defeating Wales in Cardiff, celebrating their eightieth anniversary with a rare triumph.

Table

The points system worked as follows:
* 2 points for a win
* 1 point for a drawThe teams were then divided on goal difference

Results

footballbox
date = May 16, 1980
team1 = fb-rt|Northern Ireland
score = 1–0
team2 = fb|Scotland
goals1 = Billy Hamilton
goals2 =
stadium = Windsor Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = May 17, 1980
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 4–1
team2 = fb|England
goals1 = Ian Walsh, Mickey Thomas, Robbie James,
"Own Goal"
goals2 = Paul Mariner
stadium = Racecourse Ground, Wrexham----footballbox
date = May 20, 1980
team1 = fb-rt|England
score = 1–1
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = "Own Goal"
goals2 = Terry Cochrane
stadium = Wembley Stadium, London----footballbox
date = May 21, 1980
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 1–0
team2 = fb|Wales
goals1 = William Miller
goals2 =
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow----footballbox
date = May 23, 1980
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 0–1
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 =
goals2 = Noel Brotherston
stadium = Ninian Park, Cardiff----footballbox
date = May 24, 1980
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 0–2
team2 = fb|England
goals1 =
goals2 = Steve Coppell, Trevor Brooking
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow

References

*cite book
author= Guy Oliver| title=The Guinness Record of World Soccer
date=1992
publisher=Guinness
id=ISBN 0-851129-54-4