The 'Auld enemy' England versus Scotland, an historical affair

09 November 2016 11:47

This Friday night England take on northern neighbours Scotland at Wembley Stadium in World Cup Qualifying Group F. The "Auld enemy" have faced the Scots in 111 official matches. They have played each other more than any other nations.

This first fixture between the two countries took place on Saturday the 30th November 1872 at the West of Scotland cricket ground in Partick Glasgow. it was the first ever international match in the world.

The game was drawn 1-1 and was the first of 5 matches to take place over 2 years. The Scots first suggested the match to help spread the game throughout the country. At the time there were only 10 Scottish clubs.

The prime mover was CW Alcock who was the FA secretary and also England's captain. However, he pulled out of the game due to injury and traveled to Glasgow as an umpire. Imagine Wayne Rooney being secretary and also a referee.

Over 2000 spectators watched that first game and £109 in gate receipts were taken. The fans were not disappointed as the game was full of end to end action despite only 2 goals. The Scots has 6 players from Queens Park and on average they were 2 stone lighter per player than the big strong English gentlemen. 

Initially England were superior with the magnificent dribbling skills of CJ Ottaway, AS Kirkesmith and J Brockbank and in those first 5 matches they won 3 games and drew 2. The spectators in those early encounters greatly admired the full on attacking prowess of the English forwards, more than we can say today.

At the moment England have the better record overall in the fixture, with 47 wins to Scotland's 41 and 24 draws and surprisingly only ever 3 goalless matches and in total England have scored 195 goals to 171 by Scotland.

Scotland's population is by far smaller than England's and many would consider them the under dogs, but despite the results of the first 5 games the Scots soon turned things around took the advantage in terms of wins, as they recorded 10 wins in the first 16 matches.

The reason for the upturn in fortunes was good old tactics. England were known for fielding big strong dribbling forwards from the elite public schools, their style was based on individuals running at the defence and shooting. whereas the smaller Scots developed a passing game and just spread the ball around the pitch wearing out their opponents.

The match quickly became an annual fixture alternating home games in each country. In 1879 Wales joined the fixture list and Ireland in 1882. In 1884 it became the British International Championship, later the British Home Championship and was at the time the biggest football tournament in the world.

England didn't play an international game against a non British side for almost 30 years after the initial Scotland game. They beat Germany 12-0 in London with RE Foster scoring 6 goals. Then 3 years later they thumped France 15-0 in Paris and SS Harris netted 7 times.

Crowd violence had become a major issue in fixtures the last ever British Home Championship was in 1984, exactly a 100 years after the first. With the favourites in England and Scotland cancelling out each other into a 1–1 draw in the final game at Hampden Park, thus allowing Northern Ireland to claim victory on goal difference, with Wales second.

The England versus Scotland fixture continued annually in the form of the Rous Cup, named after Sir Stanley Rous, a former secretary of The Football Association and president of FIFA. The games were played from 1985 until 1989 with England winning 3, Scotland 1 and 1 draw.

Large numbers of travelling Scots to Wembley had been a feature of England-Scotland games for many years, travelling English support to Glasgow was negligible in comparison. That is until 1987 when minor scuffles broke out on the Hampden Park terracing. In 1989, major disturbances across Glasgow were reported as significant numbers of English hooligans appeared at this fixture for the first time. With English club sides banned from European football at the time, the FA were anxious not to see the national side banned as well.

Since the days of the Rous cup the English and Scots have met each other in 5 games, with England winning 4 to Scotland's meager 1. The fixture is not the it once was. this is mainly down to the demise of the Scottish national team and perhaps the fall of Scottish football in general. As a kid I remember all the big clubs in the Football league's old First division would have 3 or 4 Scots in their squad.

Liverpool had Dalglish, Hansen and Souness. Man United had Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, Lou Macari. Notts Forest had Archie Gemmil, John Robertson, John Mcgovern, Frank Gray and Kenny Burns. Leeds had Eddie Gray, David Harvey and Arthur Graham. Ipswich had John Wark, George Burley and Alan Brazil. there were many many more. Yet despite these exodus to the English league there were still great sides in Scotland in the 80's like Celtic, Aberdeen, rangers and Dundee United. Regardless of all the history in fixtures by these 2 football loving nations the game is no longer what it once was. It will still be dramatic, hard fought and full of passion for the whole 90 minutes but in all honesty this should be 3 points guaranteed for England. The team is full of Premier league stars playing week in week out against some of the best players in the world. unfortunately hardly any of those players come from Scotland. It may be oldest fixture in international football, but it is no longer the most difficult for the English.

Source: DSG