The Six Nations Championship is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is also the oldest sports tournament ever between Home Nations. The championship holders are Ireland, who won the 2024 tournament.
The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Beginning during the 1883–84 season, it is the oldest international association football tournament in the world and it was contested until the 1983–84 season, when it was abolished after 100 years.
The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and in the Rugby World Cup. Ireland is one of the four unions that make up the British & Irish Lions – players eligible to play for Ireland are also eligible for the Lions.
The Italy national rugby union team represents the Italian Rugby Federation in men's international rugby union. The team is known as gli Azzurri. Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as it is the traditional colour of the royal House of Savoy which reigned over the Kingdom of Italy from 1860 to 1946.
The 1972 Five Nations Championship was the 43rd Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the men's national teams of England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the 78th since it began as the Home Nations Championship.
The Ireland national football team represented the island of Ireland in association football from 1882 until 1950. It was organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA), and is the fourth oldest international team in the world. It mainly played in the British Home Championship against England, Scotland and Wales. Though often vying with Wales to avoid the wooden spoon, Ireland won the Championship in 1914, and shared it with England and Scotland in 1903.
The 1980–81 British Home Championship was the only British Home Nations international football championship, other than the years of the First World War and Second World War, which was not completed and thus failed to produce a winner. As with the rugby union 1972 Five Nations Championship the cause of this cancellation was The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The championship was scheduled to be played in May 1981 after the end of the domestic season. On 5 May, however, the Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger strike leader Bobby Sands died in the Maze Prison, invoking a storm of protest and violence by republicans in Northern Ireland. Thus the English and Welsh FAs, whose teams were scheduled to travel to Windsor Park later in the month, declined to play, rendering the tournament incomplete and void.
The 1971–72 British Home Championship was the first such Home Nations football tournament, to suffer during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, when death threats from the Provisional Irish Republican Army were sent to the Scottish Football Association and Scottish players who were scheduled to play at Windsor Park. The surge in anti-British feeling which prompted these threats followed Bloody Sunday in January, and also resulted in the cancellation of the rugby union 1972 Five Nations Championship. As a result, Northern Ireland's home fixture was rescheduled to Hampden Park, effectively granting the Scottish team an extra home match. This was not the last time that The Troubles would interfere with the Home Championship; the 1981 British Home Championship would have to be abandoned following similar heightened tension after the death of Bobby Sands.
The 1972–73 British Home Championship international Home Nations football tournament was, like its predecessor in 1972, a victim of The Troubles in Northern Ireland which had erupted following Bloody Sunday the previous year. As with the previous year in the rugby union 1972 Five Nations Championship, threats were made by Republican activists against visiting British teams, which in this year meant England and Wales. To prevent violence but keep the tournament running, Northern Ireland's "home" games were transferred to Goodison Park, the home of Everton F.C. in Liverpool in England. This step meant that Ireland played just a short ferry ride from Belfast in a city with a substantial Irish population, but where the police were able to exercise a greater measure of control over who was able to attend.
The French national rugby union team first competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics.
This is a list of the Ireland national football team results from 1882 to 1899. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA).
The 1980 Five Nations Championship was the 51st Five Nations Championship series of the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 86th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament began on 19 January and concluded on 15 March.
The history of the Ireland national rugby union team began in 1875, when Ireland played its first international match, a 0–7 loss against England. Ireland has competed in the Six Nations rugby tournament since 1883. Ireland has also competed at the Rugby World Cup every four years since its inception.
The 2018 Six Nations Championship was the 19th Six Nations Championship, the annual international rugby union tournament for the six major European rugby union nations.
The 2019 Six Nations Championship was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales, and the 125th edition of the competition.
The 2020 Six Nations Championship was the 21st Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales, and the 126th edition of the competition. The tournament began on 1 February 2020, and was scheduled to conclude on 14 March; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy's penultimate match against Ireland and all three of the final weekend's matches were postponed with the intention of being rescheduled. It was the first time any match had been postponed since 2012, and the first time more than one match had been delayed since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001. In July 2020, a revised fixture schedule was announced, with the last four games being played in October.
The 2021 Six Nations Championship was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales, and the 127th edition of the competition. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament started just three months after the end of the previous tournament and all matches took place without spectators.
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA).
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA).
The 2023 Six Nations Championship was the 24th Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It was the 129th edition of the competition. France entered the tournament as defending champions, having won the Grand Slam in 2022.
England 
Ireland 
France 
Scotland 
Wales 
