Home Internationals Comeback?

British Cup?
By Chris O'Brien
February 10 2005

Supporters are pressuring the Britain's footballing powers to bring back the Home Internationals tournament. The IFA will bring up the matter at the next meeting of the four home associations, in the hope that England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland can do football battle once again.

The English FA have confirmed they are not keen on the idea of bringing back Home Internationals, despite the popularity of a return to regular all-British international clashes from supporters up and down the country. A crowded fixture list could dent the possibility of a British Cup involving England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The IFA, football's governing body in Ulster, will bring up the matter at the next meeting of the four home associations. They, along with thousands of British football fans, want the home internationals back in place. They were stopped in 1985 due to constant crowd trouble and low attendances, yet with the hooliganism problem slashed and national interest back with a bang the idea of a British Cup has excited football fans in the UK.

With England, Wales and Northern Ireland all drawn together in the World Cup qualifying matches, fans have been left excited at the prospect of regular fixtures between the rivals. Should these fixtures pass with little crowd trouble, the idea of the Home International series looks likely to be pressured by fans and certain associations.

However, FA executive director David Davies is concerned that a packed fixture schedule simply wouldn't allow for such a tournament to take place again.
"In principle, we have absolutely no objection. But the issue is where on earth we can sit games like that into the international calendar?"

International friendlies are becoming increasingly dull and meaningless. Wales' 2-0 win over Hungary was a bore and England's stalemate against the Netherlands was a pointless fixture that failed to excite supporters. A British Cup would give excitement to fans and offer the four managers of the British national sides the chance to see their players in competitive action outside of the two major tournaments.

It would seem England are the main obstacle. The Welsh, Scots and Ulstermen don't regularly feature in major competitions and thus such a tournament may harbour greater significance. English club managers pressure the FA about fixture congestion and the addition of competitive, hostile internationals to the annual football calendar would surely cause outrage.

If England decline, how about a tournament with the three Brits and the Republic of Ireland? Either way, the Home Nations is an idea I support. Watching the Six Nations always gets me passionate and patriotic on both a Welsh and British front, so swapping the egg to a round ball would make things so much better!