The 1979–80

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

saw only the second undisputed victory for Northern Ireland in the British Home Nations international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament in 96 years of its existence. It was the first time since 1970 that

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

agreed to travel to Northern Ireland, having refused to play there since 1972. The opening matches provided two great shocks for the long-established favourites of England and Scotland, with a narrow

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

home victory over the Scots and a Welsh 4–1 thrashing of the English, putting the underdogs in pole position going into their remaining rounds. Scotland recovered slightly with a narrow victory over the Welsh, but England could only manage a draw with the Northern Irish, who were in the best position to claim undisputed first place for 66 years. In the final matches, England salvaged pride and points with a win over the Scots taking them to second place, but the Northern Irish claimed the trophy by defeating Wales in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, celebrating their centenary with a rare triumph. Irish Football Association

Table

Results

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References

External links

Full Results and Line-ups
{{DEFAULTSORT:British

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1980 in British sport 1979–80 in Northern Ireland association football 1979–80 in Welsh football 1979–80 in English football 1979–80 in Scottish football