The Encylopedia of British Football
English International Matches
Charles W. Alcock, the secretary of the Football Association, arranged the first international football game to be played on the 30th November, 1872. Alcock took a team of English born players to play against a team from Scotland. The match, played in Glasgow, ended in a 0-0 draw. The main objective was to publicize the game of football in Scotland. It had the desired effect and the following year the Scottish Football Association was formed and the England-Scotland match became an annual fixture.
In 1883 the British International Championship was established. Each country met the other three over the course of the season. Scotland won the initial championship by beating England (1-0), Wales (4-1) and Ireland (5-0). The following season Scotland scored 8 against both Wales and Ireland. However, they could only manage a 1-1 draw against England.
James Forrest won his first international cap for England against Wales on 17th March, 1884. The following year he was selected to play against Scotland. Scottish officials complained as they argued that Forrest was a professional. At the time he was receiving £1 a week from Blackburn Rovers. Forrest was eventually allowed to play but he had to wear a different jersey from the rest of the team.
In 1887 Bob Roberts became England's goalkeeper. Others who played in this position for their country during this period included John Sutcliffe, William Foulke, John Robinson and Herbie Arthur.
John Sutcliffe
Despite being born in Blackburn, in 1890 Jack Reynolds was selected to play for Ireland against Wales. On 15th March, 1890, Reynolds scored Ireland's only goal in their 9-1 defeat against England. In 1891 Reynolds joined Ulster where he won an Irish Cup runner-up medal after losing to Linfield in the final. That season he played in all three of Ireland's games against Wales (7-2), England (1-6) and Scotland (1-2).
Jack Reynolds won his first international cap for England on 2nd April, 1892. Only one other player, E. E. Evans, has been known to play for two of the home countries. Over the next five years he won another seven caps for England. This included victories over Scotland (5-2 and 3-0) and Wales (6-0 and 4-0). Overall he scored three goals in eight games for his country. He is also the only player, barring own goals, to score for and against England.
G.O. Smith was an outstanding goalscorer for his country. Smith was 5 feet 11 inches tall but was of slight build and was extremely reluctant to head the ball. However, he had a good shot and made a lot of goals for his fellow attackers with his accurate passing. Smith won his first international cap on 25th February, 1893. England beat Ireland 6-1 and Smith, who played centre-forward, scored two of the goals.
James Catton pointed out: "Anyone could knock him off the ball if he could get into contact with him. But he was difficult to find, so elusive was he. His value consisted chiefly of wonderfully accurate passes to either wing; either to the inside or the outside man. And his body balance and swerve were such that when he left the arena not a hair of his head was out of place." During his time playing for Corinthians (1898-1901) he scored 113 goals in 131 games. He also had a good record for England scoring 11 goals in 20 games.
Gilbert O. Smith developed a good partnership with fellow striker, Steve Bloomer. According to Frederick Wall, the president of the Football Association, "Smith used to call out "Steve," and he made the position so favourable that in the twinkling of an eye the ball was in the net." Bloomer scored 28 goals in only 23 games during his career and at that time was the only player to score four goals for England twice.
Vivian Woodward, who replaced G.O. Smith as centre-forward in the England team, was also an amateur player. Over an eight year period he had scored 29 goals in 23 games (13 as captain). A record that stood until Tom Finney beat it in 1958. However, Finney played in 72 games for his 30 goals.
In 1893 John Sutcliffe became England's goalkeeper.
For many years Scotland and England dominated the British International Championship. It was not until Ireland was involved in a three-way tie in 1902-03 that there were signs of a shift in power. Wales won the title in 1906-07 and Ireland did it in 1913-14
