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 Rous Cup was a short-lived football competition in the second half of the 1980s, contested between England, Scotland and, in later years, a guest team from South America. It was named after Sir Stanley Rous, an English football administrator.
Paul Michael Lyons McStay, is a Scottish former professional footballer who spent his entire career with Celtic, making his senior debut in 1982 and retiring in 1997. He captained both Scotland and Celtic at all age levels. He was capped 76 times for his country and scored nine goals. He helped Celtic win three league titles, the last in 1988.
Charles Richard Gough is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender.
Maurice Daniel Robert Malpas is a Scottish former football player and coach. He signed for Dundee United in 1979 and spent his entire professional playing career with the club until his retirement in 2000. With him, United were Scottish champions in 1983 and Scottish Cup winners in 1994. European runs there included reaching the 1983–84 European Cup semi final and the 1987 UEFA Cup final.
Francis Rous, also spelled Rouse, was an English politician and Puritan religious author, who was Provost of Eton from 1644 to 1659, and briefly Speaker of the House of Commons in 1653.
Robert Sime "Roy" Aitken is a Scottish former football player and manager. He made over 480 league appearances for Celtic, and later played for Newcastle United, St Mirren and Aberdeen. Aitken also made 57 international appearances for Scotland. His playing position was either in midfield or defence.
FIFA is an international self-regulatory governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. It is one of the world's oldest and largest NGOs, being founded on 21 May 1904. It has since expanded to include 211 member associations.
Sir Stanley Ford Rous was an English football referee and the 6th President of FIFA, serving from 1961 to 1974. He also served as secretary of the Football Association from 1934 to 1962 and was an international referee.
Christopher Charles Eric Woods is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is goalkeeping coach for the Scotland national team.
Steven Archibald is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager. He played prominently as a forward for Aberdeen, winning the Scottish league in 1980, Tottenham Hotspur, winning two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup, and Barcelona, winning the Spanish league in 1985. He also played for several other clubs in Scotland, England, Spain and Ireland.
Murdo Davidson MacLeod is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. MacLeod, who played as a midfielder, made 20 appearances for Scotland and played in the 1990 World Cup Finals. He had a successful club career, mainly with Dumbarton, Celtic, Borussia Dortmund and Hibernian. He then became a manager during the mid-1990s, serving both Dumbarton and Partick Thistle. MacLeod then returned to Celtic as assistant manager, enjoying a successful season in tandem with Wim Jansen. Since leaving Celtic as a result of Jansen's departure from Celtic Park in 1998, MacLeod has worked as a football pundit for newspapers, radio and television.
David Robert Speedie is a Scottish former footballer who played for several clubs in England during the 1980s and 1990s, most notably Chelsea, Coventry City, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. He accumulated more than 500 football league appearances and scored almost 150 goals in a 14-year professional career. He also earned ten international caps for Scotland.
James Bett is a Scottish former professional association footballer who played in central or left midfield. He played with Aberdeen for nine seasons and had shorter spells at other clubs in Belgium, Iceland and Scotland. He earned 26 caps for the Scotland national team over eight years.
Neil Alexander Simpson is a Scottish former footballer, who played for Aberdeen, Newcastle United, Motherwell and Scotland.
The 1982–83 British Home Championship was the penultimate in the series of football tournaments between the British Home Nations which stretched back 99 years to 1884. In 1983 England and then Scotland announced their withdrawal from future competition after the 1984 competition with the arrangement of the Rous Cup between the two nations to eliminate Wales and Northern Ireland, who were seen as weaker opposition. The 1983 tournament was a tight contest, which England won with a final victory at home over Scotland following an opening victory over Wales and a draw in Belfast. The game at Wembley was played in midweek in an attempt to curb the large number of travelling Scottish supporters. The Scots came second with a win over Wales and a draw with Northern Ireland off-setting their final day defeat. The Welsh succumbed to goal difference as the points system then in use meant that the Irish, who had drawn twice and lost once without scoring themselves gained the same number of points for a smaller goal difference despite Wales' victory over them in their final game.
The 1989 Rous Cup was the fifth and final staging of the Rous Cup international football competition, based around the England–Scotland football rivalry.
The 1985 Rous Cup was the first staging of the Rous Cup international football competition, initially established to continue the then-traditional annual game between rivals England and Scotland following the demise of the British Home Championship.
The 1987 Rous Cup was the third staging of the Rous Cup international football competition, based around the England–Scotland football rivalry. For the first time, a third team was invited to create a three-team tournament.
The 1988 Rous Cup was the fourth staging of the Rous Cup international football competition, based around the England–Scotland football rivalry. For the second year in succession, a third team was invited to create a three-team tournament.
