For
the majority of fans born in the last twenty five
years, the only fixtures that have really segregated
the British football fan along lines of nationality
have been those chance meetings in major cup competitions.
Every English fan will remember David Seaman saving
Gary McAllister's penalty and Gascoigne's wonder
goal during Euro '96 and as such, the British Championship
- or Home Nations - when conceived back in 1883,
would have known little about how important these
matches would become.
The Home Nations was in fact the world's first international
football tournament and between 1883 and 1984, home
nation pride was up for grabs on 89 occasions, with
only war in Germany and civil unrest in Ireland
stopping the event taking place.
Despite the event dying out during the '80s, largely
because of the onset of the European Championships,
Masters resurrected the competition in homage to
its unparalleled excitement and since 1999, it has
proven to be one of the most supported Masters events
in the calendar.
