The term Victory International or Victory Internationals refers to two series of international football matches played by the national football teams of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales at the end of both the First and Second World Wars. The matches were organised to celebrate the Victory of the Allied Powers in both wars. The term specifically refers to those matches played after the conflicts were over, making them distinct from the wartime internationals which were played during the course of the wars.
Among the games regarded as Victory Internationals were those played as part of the 1945–46 British Victory Home Championship. The 1945–46 season also saw England play Victory internationals against France, Switzerland and Belgium. Scotland also played the latter two national teams. The status of these internationals is open to debate. England, Ireland and Wales do not recognize any of these games as full internationals. Scotland, however, does list the games against Belgium and Switzerland as full internationals. Similarly, Belgium, Switzerland and France all regard their Victory Internationals as full internationals. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The 1967–68 British Home Championship football was the final stage of the 1968 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying for the Home Nations, and provided revenge for an England team smarting from a defeat on their home ground to the Scots just months after winning the 1966 FIFA World Cup which cost them the 1966–67 British Home Championship. The English victories against Wales and Ireland in the first two games meant that going into the final match they only required a draw, which they eventually achieved in a hard-fought match, winning the tournament and the place in the European Championship. The Scots started badly against the unfancied Irish, losing in Belfast, and never recovered, scraping a win against Wales and needing a win against a dominant England team. The Irish were unable to capitalise on an excellent start, losing to England and Wales and coming fourth, whilst the Welsh managed a win against Ireland in their final game to scrape into joint third place after a terrible start.
The 1913–14 British Home Championship was the last British Home Championship played before the First World War. The competition was played between January and April 1914 and won by Ireland with a team that included Patrick O’Connell, Billy Gillespie, Val Harris, Louis Bookman, Samuel Young and Bill Lacey.
The 1979–80 British Home Championship saw only the second undisputed victory for Northern Ireland in the British Home Nations international football tournament in 96 years of its existence. It was the first time since 1970 that Scotland agreed to travel to Northern Ireland, having refused to play there since 1972.
The 1978–79 British Home Championship was a British Home Nations competition, won by the English football side and notable for seeing marked increases in hooliganism and falling attendance which would result in its cancellation in 1984. The English started well, beating Northern Ireland to match the heavy Welsh victory over Scotland on the same day, which featured a hat trick by John Toshack. Scotland recovered by beating the Irish in their next match while England and Wales played out a goalless draw, leaving three sides theoretically capable of winning the Championship in the final round. Wales could only manage a draw with the Irish and so in the deciding match between England and Scotland, a 1–1 half time score gave the Scots some hope but a strong second half performance from England was rewarded with a deserved 3–1 win. This result gave England the Championship, with Wales in second place. The tournament also saw the introduction of goal difference to separate teams, although it had no effect on the eventual outcome.
The 1959–60 British Home Championship football tournament was played by the British Home Nations throughout the 1959–60 season and was shared between three of the competing teams at the expense of Ireland. Football at the United Kingdom was at a low point in 1959 and 1960, following the failure of the national sides, to perform well in the 1958 FIFA World Cup two years before. A part of the problem involved the deaths of senior members of all four national sides at the Munich air disaster in early 1958. England had also suffered a further loss of confidence following poor form in a pre-season tour of the Americas, losing three games in a row to Brazil, Peru 4–1 and Mexico. An 8–1 victory over a weak United States in the final match did little to raise their spirits.
The 1974–75 British Home Championship was an international football tournament between the British Home Nations. It resulted in a resounding victory for an England team which was going through one of the worst periods of consistent play in their history. The tournament saw several draws, including two dramatic 2–2 ties for the Welsh team against England and Scotland and a goalless draw between England and Northern Ireland. The Scots had begun better, beating the Irish 3–0 in their second game and so entered the final match with a real chance of victory. The Welsh, like the English, had a 2-point advantage in their final match, but failed to capitalise on this, losing to Northern Ireland and ending in last place. The final game, between England and Scotland was in the end a one-sided affair, the English crushing the Scots in a 5–1 rout and winning the tournament.
The 1963–64 British Home Championship international Home Nations football tournament was an unusual affair in which victory was shared between the England, Scotland and Ireland national football teams after all teams scored four points by beating Wales and then winning one and losing one of their remaining matches. Goal difference was not at this stage used to determine team positions in the tournament, but if it had been, England would have won with a goal difference of +8 with Scotland second and Ireland third.
The 1961–62 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 1962–63 British Home Championship football tournament came after disappointment for the home nations in the 1962 FIFA World Cup, for which only England qualified, only to be beaten 3–1 in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Brazil. The Home Championship was won by a Scottish team which dominated all their matches and whitewashed their opponents for the second year in a row as part of a period of temporary but pronounced dominance.
The 1951–52 British Home Championship was an international football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1951–52 season. In an unusual conclusion, Wales shared the championship with England, one of only four tournaments Wales would share victory in post-war. Ireland by contrast endured one of their worst championships of the period, losing all three games and failing to score. Scotland too underperformed, although their two losses were both hard-fought.
The 1958–59 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations. It came the year after the notable failure of England and Scotland to impress at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, for which all four nations qualified for the only time. Wales and Northern Ireland were the only achievers, both reaching the quarter-finals after playoffs.
The 1954–55 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1954–55 football season. It was won by a strong England side which included players such as Johnny Haynes and Nat Lofthouse as well as future manager Don Revie. England and Scotland, had competed at the 1954 FIFA World Cup in the summer before the tournament began and both teams had struggled, eventually being knocked out by Uruguay, Scotland by a 7–0 margin.
The 1957–58 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1957–58 season. The competition was marred by the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958, when an aircraft carrying the Manchester United football team home from a European Cup match in Belgrade crashed at the Munich-Riem airport on take-off. Eight players and fifteen other people, including an array of senior coaches, officials and sports journalists, were killed and another nineteen seriously injured. Three of the dead, Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor and Duncan Edwards were experienced England team members while Jackie Blanchflower, an Ireland international, was left permanently disabled. Several other international footballers were also injured more or less severely. This tragedy rather subdued the tournament culmination two months later, although the England team did secure a cathartic 4–0 victory in Glasgow over the Scots with one of the goals coming from Bobby Charlton, who had been injured in the Munich crash.
The 1938–39 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1938–39 seasons and was the last edition of the tournament to be completed before the outbreak of the Second World War in August 1939 suspended all professional sporting competitions. As a result, this was the final opportunity for many spectators to see their sporting heroes in an international setting, as players such as Wales's Dai Astley or Scotland's Tommy Walker would no longer be young enough to play for their country by the time professional football began again in 1946.
The 1955–56 British Home Championship was a football tournament played during the 1955–56 season between the British Home Nations. It was the only occasion during the hundred-year run of the Home Championship in which all four teams finished level on points. As goal difference was not used to determine position until 1979, all four teams shared the trophy, holding it for three months each. Had goal difference been used to determine the winner, then England would have won with Scotland second.
1947–48 British Home Championship was the second edition of this annual football tournament to be played in the post-war period. It was conducted during the 1947–48 football season between the four Home Nations of the British Isles and resulted in a victory for England for the second year in a row.
The 1934–35 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1934–35 season. Scotland and England shared the trophy after a dramatic final match in which the Scots beat England to claim a share of the cup after having seemingly come adrift following their early defeat to Ireland.
The 1920–21 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1920–21 season. The second tournament played since the hiatus of the First World War, the 1921 competition was dominated by Scotland, who won the first of seven championships they would claim throughout the decade. England and reigning champions Wales came joint second as goal difference was not at this stage used to separate teams.
The 1911–12 British Home Championship was a football competition played between the British Home Nations during the second half of the 1911–12 season. England and Scotland shared the title after both beat Wales and Ireland and then drew the deciding match at Hampden Park. Ireland took third place after beating Wales in an exciting 3–2 win away in Cardiff. Wales, who came last with zero points, lost all three matches and conceded six goals.
The 1945–46 British Victory Home Championship was played during the 1945–46 football season between the national football teams of the four Home Nations of the British Isles. It was won by Scotland. Staged very soon after the end of World War II hostilities, the matches are not regarded as full internationals and are referred to as Victory Internationals.
