The British Home Championships were contested between, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, for 100 years starting in the years 1893-94, the games took place at the end of every domestic football season (apart from the war years when the championship wasn’t played) with each team playing the other team once, giving a total of 3 matches for each team. The championship continued until the 1983-84 season, when they were finally stopped.
Despite never achieving great success in the Championships, for the Welsh players there was always a great pride and passion in playing for their country, and there was always an intense rivalry when Wales played England.
In 1977 the Wales National Football Team beat England at Wembley Stadium for the first time in their history.
In an unprecedented incident prior to the game only the English national anthem was played and not the Welsh anthem, it is usually standard to play the national anthem of both teams prior to the game. In protest the Welsh players remained standing in a row in the centre of the pitch in silence, as if the anthem were to be played, they waited a few minutes and then proceeded to start the match.
Leighton James scored the penalty to give Wales a 1-0 victory, which remains Wales only victory over England at Wembley Stadium.
Another landmark Welsh victory was beating England 4-1 at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground in 1980, this came just a few days after England had beaten the then World Champions, Argentina.
The run of form against England continued into the mid-80s. In 1984 a talented youngster by the name of Mark Hughes secured a victory over England, scoring the only goal of the game on his international debut. Hughes went on to become a great player both for Wales and his club, Manchester United.
In 1950 The Home Championship determined which British teams would go through o the World Cup but Wales failed to qualify, losing to England and Scotland and being held to a 0-0 draw by Northern Ireland.
The 1950’s however were seen by many to be the golden age in Welsh football. Wales players Ivor Allchurch, Alf Sherwood and John Charles became household names and later helped their team qualify for their one and only World Cup in 1958
Wales were to win the Home Championship 12 times in total, 5 of which were shared with other teams, goal difference wasn’t included, so if the teams finished level on points the championship was shared.