Vauxhall tie-ins herald return for British Championship

[TRF_Cymro]

The British Home Championship is set to return to the calendar for the first time since 1984, the BBC understands.

The catalyst for its revival comes from Vauxhall, which is set to announce the first of four sponsorship deals with the Home Nations at Wembley on Tuesday.

Northern Ireland won the last British Championship before concerns about crowd trouble and fixture congestion saw the competition discontinued.

The most likely date for the tournament's comeback is 2013.

The annual competition was a mainstay of the British schedule for 100 years, with England and Scotland the dominant forces.

But the growing importance of the European Championship and World Cup made it appear old-fashioned and parochial. This view was particularly prevalent at the Football Association, where successive England managers made it clear they wanted to play stronger overseas opposition.

The interruption of the 1980-81 competition by the Troubles in Northern Ireland did not help the championship's cause, nor did repeated bouts of hooliganism.

When England and Scotland fielded weakened teams in 1983-84, the British Home Championship was effectively finished.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9355809.stm​

 

[munstermuffin]

Are English jealous of us Irish We already have the Carling Competition.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Will welcome this, more competitive matches for the Welsh to get them more exposure of playing some good sides. Expect us to do ok, get batter by England and give the rest a good game.

 

[MichaelBoard]

Yep Welsh football is on the way up. We've got alot of good youngsters coming through who should finally be mature enough to step up and fulfill their potential like Jack Collison, Arron Ramsey, Gareth Bale etc. We've got 2 young quality goalkeepers in Wayne Hennessy and Boaz Myhill who are noly going to get better. To add to this a young, inspirational (though admittedly unexperienced) manager in Gary Speed who is doing his best to persuade a few of the old heads like Simon Davies, the exceptional Ryan Giggs and Danny Gabbidon out of retirement who all have more to offer and bring a wealth of experience, even Robbie Savage is trying his hardest to get a call-up! What Gary Speed needs to do now though is tap into the young talent in the Premiership who qualify for Wales in some way or another who England have either overlooked or who just can't get a look in at the moment like Ryan Shawcross for example (eventhough Wales have tried once and he has said he wants to play for England, hopefully he will have enough of waiting and pick Wales). I know that Speed is already trying to persuade Wolve's David Jones to switch allegiance and play for Wales as he qualifies through his father who was born in North Wales. Jones is a very good player who would be good for Wales so fingerscrossed!

 

[Seaton]

So that is what convinced the English FA to come on board, money

Surprise surprise


Would like to see this happen though, even though the teams that are fielded (bar NI maybe) will all be depleted by sudden injuries/ fatigue/delayed flights/ lost passport/ new girlfriend in labour