1962 British Home Championship

The 1962 British Home Championship was a football competition played in the season preceding the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile, for which only England had qualified from the home nations. Although they were expected to do well in the World Cup, England suffered a poor home championship and were eventually dispatched from the World Cup by the eventual winner Brazil in the quarter finals.

The Home Championship began very well for Scotland, who in their first match scored a 6-1 defeat of Northern Ireland in Belfast. England could not match this pace in their encounter with Wales who held them to a draw and became a contender for the title in the process. In the second game the Scots beat the Welsh 2-0 but England again failed to impress, again drawing 1-1 with the poor Irish. In the final matches, Wales beat Northern Ireland comprehensively with Mel Charles taking all four goals and achieving second position, whilst England played Scotland knowing that only a win would get them the title. In the event, the impressive Scots ran out 2-0 winners, taking the championship and achieving a rare whitewash of the other three teams.

Table

The points system worked as follows:
* 2 points for a win
* 1 point for a draw

Results

footballbox
date = October 7, 1961
team1 = fb-rt|Northern Ireland
score = 1–6
team2 = fb|Scotland
goals1 = Jimmy McLaughlin
goals2 = Alex Scott 3, Ralph Brand 2, Davie Wilson
stadium = Windsor Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = October 14, 1961
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 1–1
team2 = fb|England
goals1 = Graham Williams
goals2 = Bryan Douglas
stadium = Ninian Park, Cardiff----footballbox
date = November 22, 1961
team1 = fb-rt|England
score = 1–1
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Bobby Charlton
goals2 = Jimmy McIlroy
stadium = Wembley Stadium, London----footballbox
date = November 8, 1961
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 2–0
team2 = fb|Wales
goals1 = Ian St John 2
goals2 =
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow----footballbox
date = April 11, 1962
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 4–0
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Mel Charles 4
goals2 =
stadium = Ninian Park, Cardiff----footballbox
date = April 11, 1962
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 2–0
team2 = fb|England
goals1 = Davie Wilson, Eric Caldow (P)
goals2 =
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