Wales national football team results (1876–1899)
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international association football and is governed by the Football Association of Wales. The team are the third oldest in international football, behind only Scotland and England and played their first match on 18 March 1876, a 4–0 defeat to Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow.[1] Wales played their first home fixture the following year, which Scotland won 2–0 at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.[lower-alpha 1][3] Wales met England for the first time in 1879 and recorded their first victory against them two years later, winning 1–0 at Alexandra Meadows following a goal from John Vaughan.[4] In 1882, Wales played Ireland for the first time, defeating them 7–1 at the Racecourse.[5]
Wales national football team results |
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With all four Home Nations playing annual friendly matches, the decision was taken to organise the fixtures into a competition. The British Home Championship, a round-robin tournament, was subsequently formed and the inaugural season was held in 1884.[6] Wales won their opening fixture 6–0 against Ireland but defeats against England and Scotland in their remaining matches led to a third place finish.[7] In 1888, Wales recorded the largest victory in the team's history by defeating Ireland 11–0; Jack Doughty scored four of his side's goals.[8] It was not until 1895 that Wales finished higher than third in the Championship, claiming a second place finish after drawing all three fixtures.[7][9]
From the nation's first fixture in 1876 to the end of the century Wales played 63 fixtures, winning 11, drawing 8 and losing the remaining 44. Of the side's victories, 9 were secured over Ireland and 2 over England,[10][11] while they failed to defeat Scotland in 24 attempts during this period.[12] The team's struggles were exacerbated by the reluctance of clubs in the Football League to release Welsh players for international fixtures, which often clashed with league matches.[13] In the 1890s, Wales finished bottom of the British Home Championship in six of the ten tournaments held and lost nine of their final ten matches in the decade.[7]
Results
Wales' score is shown first in each case. The colours listed below are also used to signify results combined with the scoreline.
Colour (with score) | Meaning |
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Defeat | |
Draw | |
Win |
Head to head records
Opponent | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | W% | D% | L% |
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21 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 18 | 75 | 9.52 | 9.52 | 80.95 |
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18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 70 | 28 | 50 | 16.67 | 33.33 |
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24 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 18 | 106 | 0 | 12.50 | 87.50 |
Totals | 63 | 11 | 8 | 44 | 106 | 209 | 17.46 | 12.70 | 69.84 |
Notes
- Although some sources have credited Acton Park with the first home international, most contemporary sources support the Racecourse.[2]
- Table information sourced from the references listed in the statistics section below.
- Due to the unavailability of exact figures, attendance numbers are given as recorded estimates.
- Reports vary over the exact attendance due to poor weather conditions. Some reports estimate as few as 100 attended, although most sources approximate around 200.[14]
- The Football Association of Wales chose to hold a fixture in the English border town of Shrewsbury in the hope of drawing a larger crowd.[15]
References
- Statistics
- Nygård, Jostein. "Wales – International Results". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- "Welsh International Matches". Welsh Football Data Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- Tossani, Gabriele. "Scotland – International Results". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- Oliver, Guy (1992). The Guinness Record of World Soccer. London: Guinness World Records Ltd. pp. 558–559. ISBN 978-0-85112-954-9.
- Bibliography
- Stead, Phil (2013). Red Dragons – The Story of Welsh Football. Ceredigion: Y Lolfa. ISBN 978-1-84771-468-8.
- Specific
- "On this day in 1876: Wales play first official match". Express & Star. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- "Is the Racecourse the world's oldest international venue?". Daily Post. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
- Stead 2013, p. 23
- "England 0 Wales 1". englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- "Wales V Ireland". The Times. 27 February 1882. p. 10. Retrieved 18 August 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- Stead 2013, pp. 32–34
- Reyes, Macario; Morrison, Neil. "British Home Championship 1884–1899". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- "The Story of Welsh Football 1880–1914". The Story of Welsh Football. Wrexham County Borough Council. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- Stead 2013, pp. 47–48
- "Wales national football team: record v Ireland". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- "Wales national football team: record v England". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- "Wales national football team: record v Scotland". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- Stead 2013, p. 51
- "England v Wales, 18 January 1879". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- Stead 2013, pp. 40–41