5 March 1892 - They Were Masters Of Time And Space

On 5 March 1892, England played and won two different matches by identical scores of 2-0.

The occasion was that year's British Home Championship, contested among England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The latter two opened the competition with a 1-1 draw a week earlier, then both had their second matches scheduled against England, but on the same day. And in two different locations. So the English sent two different teams.

Wales hosted one team at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham and fell to goals from Arthur Henfrey and Rupert Sandilands. Meanwhile, England's other team beat Ireland at the Solitude Ground in Belfast with a brace from Harry Daft (pictured). Daft and Henfrey were teammates at Corinthians, while Sandilands played his club ball for Old Westminsters.

Afterward, England got a month-long break before their next match, a 4-1 win over Scotland on 2 April that secured their fifth BHC trophy.

23 February 1901 - This One Went To Eleven

On 23 February 1901, Scotland opened the British Home Championship by recording their biggest-ever victory. And they still didn't win the tournament.

Ireland arrived at Celtic Park in Glasgow that day to face the defending champions, but were completely unprepared for awaited them, as Scotland racked up 11 goals on the day--four from Celtic's Sandy McMahon (pictured), four from Rangers' Robert Hamilton, two from Celtic's John Campbell, and, for good measure, one from former Preston North End Invincible David Russell. Meanwhile, the Irish team were unable to breach the Scottish defense, so the match ended 11-0.

It was Scotland's biggest win, but it wasn't Ireland's worst result, as they had been beaten 13-0 by England in 1882.

Scotland went on to draw their next two matches with Wales and England to finish as tournament runners-up (England won). Ireland finished last, losing all three matches.

18 February 1882 - The Luck Of The Irish Was Not With Them This Day

On 18 February 1882, Ireland set a record in their first international. Unfortunately, it was a record loss, as they fell to England 13-0.

The Irish FA had been founded two years earlier, making them the world's fourth oldest football association after England, Scotland, and Wales. For their inaugural match against England in Belfast, they pulled a team together primarily from two teams, Knock FC, who provided five players, and Cliftonville, who provided four. Their other two players came from Avoniel FC and Distillery, whose Samuel Johnston was only 15 years and 154 days old at the time.

England's team was more diverse, including players from seven different teams. But one team, Aston Villa, delivered nine of their thirteen goals, with five from Howard Vaughton (pictured) and four from Arthur Brown, both making their England debut. The other goals came from Charles Bambridge (Swifts FC), Henry Cursham (Notts County and Old Corinthians), and a couple from James Brown (Blackburn Rovers).

The match remains England's record victory and Ireland's (now Northern Ireland) record defeat.

7 February 1891 - The Wins Were Few And Far Between

On 7 February 1891, Ireland beat Wales 7-2 to record only their second-ever victory--almost four years after the first one.

The Irish FA was founded in 1880 and fielded their first side in 1882, making them the fourth country to produce a national team (after England, Scotland, and Wales). That first match did not augur good things, however, as Ireland were on the wrong end of a 13-0 pounding by England. They finally got their very first victory in March 1887, beating Wales 4-1.

By 1891, Ireland had returned to form, losing 11 consecutive matches (including a crushing 11-0 defeat to Wales in 1888). The last two defeats in that run of futility came in the 1891 British Home Championship, where the Irish lost a close 2-1 decision to Scotland, then fell to England 6-1. So there was little reason for optimism other than the fact that Wales had performed almost as poorly, suffering their own losses to Scotland (4-3) and England (6-1).

On the day, however, Ireland overwhelmed the visiting Welsh team with a four goals from forward Olphie Stanfield en route to a dominant 7-2 victory. The Irish team that day included Ulster half-back Jack Reynolds (pictured), whose play attracted the attention of West Brom. After moving to the Hawthorns later that year, Reynolds revealed that he had been born in England. He subsequently switched to the English national team and remains the only person to play for both nations.

26 January 1884 - Great Scots

On 26 January 1884, Ireland hosted the very first British Home Championship match, losing 0-5 to eventual winners Scotland.

The previous year, the football associations of the four British Home Nations--England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales--agreed to formalize their regular internationals in an annual tournament. They decided that each of the four members would play single matches against the other three, earning two points for a win and one point for a draw, with the champions being the team with the most points at the end.

The format for the new tournament called for Ireland to play their three matches first, so they welcomed Scotland to Ballynafeigh Park in Belfast for the inaugural match. It wasn't much of a contest, as the Scots rolled to victory with a goal from John Goudie and two each from James Gossland and William Harrower (despite the performance, it was Gossland's only cap for Scotland).

Ireland followed the match with further losses to Wales (6-0) and England (1-8), while Scotland proceeded to win both of their remaining matches (1-0 over England and 4-1 over Wales) to claim the first BHC title. It was the first of four consecutive titles for Scotland, who won the British Home Championship a total of 41 times before the competition came to an end in 1984.

23 October 1921 - The Three Lions Roar, Then Turn Into Kittens

On 23 October 1921, England and Ireland opened the British Home Championship, with England winning 2-0. It was their only win of their tournament.

The 1921 tournament was only the second time it had been played since the end of World War I. England, who had recently surpassed Scotland as the most successful side in the competition, had fared poorly in the 1920 edition, finishing third behind Wales and Scotland, and were looking to reclaim the trophy.

They started off well, topping Ireland with goals from Burnley inside forward Bob Kelly and Aston Villa striker Billy Walker. But England's scoring touch deserted them and, after a subsequent scoreless draw with Wales and a 3-0 loss to Scotland, they again finished third. Ireland finished fourth with three losses in three matches.

England's two scorers went on to make history of their own, however. Kelly left Burnley for Sunderland in 1925 for the then-British record transfer fee of £6,550. Walker remained with Villa for his entire career and found the net a total of 244 times in all competitions to make him their record goalscorer.

28 March 1903 - Ireland's Good Old Goodall

On 28 March 1903, center-half Archie Goodall (pictured) scored the opening goal in Ireland's 2-0 victory over Wales in the 1903 British Home Championship. Goodall was 38 years and 283 days old, making him the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Irish national team.

Born in Belfast in 1864, Goodall spent his entire club career in England, starting with Preston North End in 1887. After one season in Deepdale and one with Aston Villa, he settled with Derby County for whom he made 380 league appearances (and scored 48 goals) between 1889 and 1903.

He received his first call up for Ireland in March 1899. Prior to that time, the Irish FA had refused to allow the national team to select footballers who were playing in clubs outside Ireland, making Goodall one of the first players based in England to don a shirt for the Irish national team.

Ireland's match against Wales on 28 March 1903 was their last of the tournament. Goodall's goal - the second and last of his international career - helped the Irish finish level on points with England and Scotland and, because there was no provision in the tournament rules to break a tie, the three sides shared the trophy equally. It was the first top finish for Ireland, who would finish as runners-up the following season, then win the title outright in 1914.

Goodall left Derby County in 1903 and spent a season with Plymouth Argyle before moving to Glossop North End as player-manager. After one season there, he moved to Wolverhampton in 1905, but made only seven appearances for Wolves before retiring later that year.

20 February 1897 - It Took A While, But It Eventually Caught On

On 20 February 1897, Ireland made history by becoming the first national team in modern history to compete under the guidance of an official coach, as Billy Crone (right) took charge for their opening match against England in that year's British Home Championship. Unfortunately for the Irish, it didn't help, and England defeated them 6-0.

Prior to Crone's appointment, national team players were selected by their respective football associations, then coached by the team captain. Before overseeing the national team, Crone - himself a former Irish international with 12 caps - had established himself as the manager of his hometown club, Belfast's Distillery FC, where he played his club ball until his retirement as a player in 1893. He remained the manager of Distillery (now known as Lisburn Distillery) during and after his time in charge of Ireland, leading them to five Irish League titles between 1895 and 1906.

For the remainder of the tournament, Ireland won their next match against Wales, 4-3, but lost their final match against Scotland, 5-1, to finish third out of the four teams.

In hiring Crone, Ireland were well ahead of their competition. For comparison, England hired their first manager in 1946, while Wales and Scotland hired their first managers in 1954.

15 February 1913 - Black And Tans On The House!

On 15 February 1913, Irish debutant Billy Gillespie (pictured) scored his first two international goals, giving his side a 2-1 victory over England in the 1913 British Home Championship. The win was Ireland's first ever over England in 32 matches.

The match was played at Windsor Park in Belfast before a crowd of 20,000. It was England's first contest in that year's tournament, while Ireland had already played one match, a 0-1 loss to Wales on 18 January.

England gained the early advantage with a 35th-minute strike from winger Charlie Buchan, but Gillespie brought the hosts level in the 43rd minute, then put them ahead for good seventeen minutes later. Unfortunately for Ireland, it was their only win of the tournament and they finished in last place after a 1-2 loss to Scotland. England rallied to win their last two matches, 4-3 over Wales and 1-0 over Scotland, to finish in first place. Ireland and Gillespie would gain some revenge the following season, however, beating England 3-0 on their way to the BHC title, the first outright title won by Ireland.

Gillespie, an inside forward who played his club ball for Sheffield United, would go on to become Ireland's most-capped player with 25 appearances and score a total of thirteen goals--a record that would not be tied until 1992 (by Colin Clarke) and not broken until 2004 (by David Healy).

29 March 1884 - They Played Like Warrior-Poets

On 29 March 1884, the Scottish national team beat Wales at Caithkin Park in Glasgow by the score of 4-1 to claim the inaugural British Home Championship. John Kay scored two goals for the Scottish side, while Joseph Lindsay and Francis Shaw added one more each.

The British Home Championship was contested annually between the four national teams within the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (Northern Ireland after the Irish partition in 1922). The Championship used a standard table format where each of the four teams played the other three teams once, earning two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. The title went to the team with the highest number of points at the conclusion.

Scotland finished the 1883-84 Championship at the top of the table with maximum points. They beat Ireland away 5-0 in the first ever BHC match on 26 January 1884, then beat England 1-0 in Glasgow, before completing their title with the victory over Wales.

The British Home Championship was canceled between 1914-19 due to World War I and again during 1939-46 due to World War II. It was also canceled in 1980-81 due to the civil unrest in Northern Ireland that year. It was last played in 1984, when it was won by Northern Ireland.