1956–57 British Home Championship

1956–57 British Home Championship
Tournament details
Host country	England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
Dates	6 October 1956 – 10 April 1957
Teams	4
Final positions
Champions	England
Runners-up	Scotland
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	14 (2.33 per match)
Top scorer(s)	14 players (1 each)
	← 1955–56 1957–58 ⊟

The 1956–57 British Home Championship was the final full championship before the Munich air disaster would kill or end the careers of five England Internationals one from Northern Ireland mid-way through the following tournament. A close-fought competition between England and Scotland, the tournament also featured some very good performances from Wales and Ireland. For tournaments of the day, this was considered a low-scoring affair, although the performances were consistently high.

England won the championship in a close final match, but after the first round all could have taken the trophy. Unusually it was England who were grateful for a point in Belfast after a dominant display from the Irish in a 1–1 draw ^[1] with the Scots and Welsh also playing out an opening indecisive game. In the second games, Wales were well beaten by England, but Scotland were forced to struggle to a 1–0 win over Ireland. In the final matches, any team could still have taken the trophy, but Wales and Ireland outplayed each other in their match and as a result drew 0–0, leaving the final game to be the decider between the English and the Scots. England triumphed eventually in a tough 2–1 win.

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
England (C)	3	2	1	0	6	3	3	5
Scotland	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	3
Ireland	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
Wales	3	0	2	1	3	5	−2	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points. The points system worked as follows: 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.
(C) Champions

Results

6 October 1956

Ireland	1 – 1	England
Jimmy McIlroy		Stanley Matthews

Windsor Park, Belfast

20 October 1956

Wales	2 – 2	Scotland
Trevor Ford, Terry Medwin		Lawrie Reilly, Willie Fernie

Ninian Park, Cardiff

7 November 1956

Scotland	1 – 0	Ireland
Alex Scott

Hampden Park, Glasgow

14 November 1956

England	3 – 1	Wales
Johnny Haynes, Johnny Brooks, Tom Finney		John Charles

Wembley Stadium, London

6 April 1957

England	2 – 1	Scotland
Derek Kevan, Duncan Edwards		Tommy Ring

Wembley Stadium, London

10 April 1957

Ireland	0 – 0	Wales

Windsor Park, Belfast

References

^ "Ireland 1; England 1 (1956)". YouTube. 13 April 2014.

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

[1] "Ireland 1; England 1 (1956)". YouTube. 13 April 2014.

[1]

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