CLASSIC UFWC TITLE MATCH:

Northern Ireland 0-1 Scotland
3 March 1923
British Home Championships, Windsor Park, Belfast
Scorer: Wilson

Another win for Scotland, who dominated the UFWC throughout this period, but this game is most notable for being the first in the UFWC record books to feature Northern Ireland.

Prior to 1921, a united Ireland side played on the international stage. The Irish Football Association (IFA) had governed football across Ireland, but in 1921 Ireland was partitioned under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Effectively, Ireland was spilt into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, or the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland).

Although based in Belfast in Northern Ireland, the IFA continued to claim to represent the whole of Ireland, continued to select players from the whole of Ireland, and continued to send out an international football team called, simply, ‘Ireland’.

This was despite the fact that a newly-formed body based in Dublin in the Irish Free State, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), also claimed to represent the whole of Ireland, also selected players from the whole of Ireland, and also sent out an international football team called, simply, ‘Ireland’.

It was not until 1946 that the sides were officially renamed Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. (Even then, both sides continued to select players from both countries until that practice was banned in 1950.) Officially, however, all results gained by the team known prior to 1921 as ‘Ireland’ now stand alongside results gained by the team known from 1921 as ‘Northern Ireland’.

Northern Ireland’s first international football match had been outside of the UFWC in February 1921, also against Scotland, and also resulting in defeat. Two years later, Scotland were on their way to winning the 1923 British Home Championships. Ireland were not expected to provide much opposition, but the match was actually anything but a formality.

‘On the run of the game Scotland scarcely deserved to win,’ reported The Scotsman, ‘for the Irishmen played very well indeed, and [William] Harper, the Scottish goalkeeper, had far more work to do than [George] Farquharson of Ireland.’

Middlesbrough’s Andrew Wilson scored the only goal of the game midway through the second half, netting a rebound after a Farquharson double-save. ‘Wilson, who has been such a success in representative games in the past, did practically nothing beyond scoring the goal which won the match for his side,’ The Scotsman reported. ‘Seldom has a centre-forward with such a reputation been held in such subjection.’

Among the Ireland defenders held up for praise was former Newcastle United full-back Bill McCracken, who, at the veteran age of 39, had just retired from club football and been appointed manager of Hull City. It is perhaps little wonder that Andrew Wilson struggled against a defence marshalled by McCracken – during his time at Newcastle, McCracken was credited with inventing the offside trap.

So the IFA’s Ireland side lost their first UFWC match as Northern Ireland. The new team would have to wait until 1927 to chalk up its first UFWC win.

This is an edited extract from the Unofficial Football World Champions book, which tells the story of the UFWC via more than 100 classic title matches. Get more details here.

Classic Matches Northern Ireland, Scotland

Bonus Content, Classic Matches Italy, Scotland

UFWC fans can’t have failed to notice that the new Unofficial Football World Champions book is available to order right now. This extract gives a taster of what you can expect from the book, which tells the story of the unofficial championships via more than 100 UFWC title matches from 1872 right up to date. This is how it all began:

MATCH 1 – NO WINNER

Scotland 0-0 England
30 November 1872
Friendly
West of Scotland Cricket Ground, Glasgow
No Scorers

The Unofficial Football World Championships, and the glory that is international football, kicked off in 1872 with this very historic goalless draw – an undeniable anticlimax. Up until this point England had been the only international football side in the world, which made arranging international fixtures slightly problematic. The English busied themselves by playing games against a ‘London Scottish’ side, but appetite for a real England versus Scotland clash was whetted by Queen’s Park FC’s appearance in the FA Cup semi-finals in 1871. The cash-strapped Scottish club drew 0-0 with England’s Wanderers in the semi, but couldn’t afford to return for a replay. Wanderers were given a bye, and won the FA Cup. But Queen’s Park’s gumption so impressed the English FA that plans were made to send an England team north of the border to play an official Scotland side. The Scottish 11, selected by the (perhaps slightly impartial) Queen’s Park captain and goalkeeper Robert Gardner, consisted entirely of Queen’s Park players. England captain and selector (and secretary of the English FA) CW Alcock chose an 11 containing players from nine different clubs. Unluckily, Alcock was injured in a league match in the run-up to the game and was forced to replace himself as skipper with Oxford University forward Cuthbert Ottaway. For the fashion conscious: Scotland wore dark blue shirts with lion crests, white knickerbockers, and red head cowls, while England wore white shirts bearing the three lions crest, white knickerbockers, and blue caps. England, playing with an adventurous 1-2-7 formation, produced an impressive display of attacking football. But Scotland, playing 2-2-6, defended resolutely. The Bell’s Life in London journal described the game as, ‘a splendid display of football in the really scientific sense of the word, and a most determined effort on the part of the representatives of the two nationalities to overcome each other.’ At the final whistle, despite the lack of goals, both sides were afforded ‘three hearty cheers’. Almost 4,000 spectators turned up for the game, with the gate receipts for the day totalling a whopping £109. But, despite the enthusiasm of those in attendance, the first ever UFWC title match failed to produce a winner. Captains Gardner and Ottaway both left emptyhanded. What a bally rotten show.

Charles William Alcock was a football pioneer, the instigator of international football, and – albeit inadvertently – the UFWC. It was CW who, in 1872, decided to send an English team to Glasgow to play a match against the Scots, ‘in order to further the interests of the Association in Scotland.’ He didn’t play in the game, although he did appear and score in a later UFWC match against Scotland in March 1875. Born in Sunderland in 1842, Alcock also created the first organised football competition, the FA Cup, with the first round of ties being played in November 1871. The first FA Cup final was won by Wanderers – captained, naturally, by one CW Alcock. The UFWC trophy is named in his honour as the CW Alcock Cup.

This is an extract from the book Unofficial Football World Champions by Paul Brown. Get more details here.

UFWC News England, Scotland