British Home Championships set to return

[Lineker]

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.

Recent years, however, have witnessed calls for its return, with only the English FA remaining opposed. But that is about to change for three important reasons.

The first is that years of uninspiring friendly internationals have left England fans - and managers - eager for a return to the fierce competition of the home internationals.

The second is fears about crowd trouble have waned as England have played British rivals in recent qualifiers for the European Championship and World Cup without too many problems - Wales host England, for example, in Cardiff on 26 March.

And the third is that Vauxhall - keen to be known as "the driving force of British football" - wants this to happen and has considerable leverage with the FA and its counterparts in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The FA's finances have been hit hard in recent years by the expense of rebuilding Wembley and the implosion of its broadcast partner Setanta. This has come at a time when the governing body has spent heavily on the likes of Fabio Capello and making a bid for the 2018 World Cup.

A precarious position looked to have taken a turn for the worse when the FA turned down a £20m offer from financial services firm Nationwide to renew its 11-year association with the national team - the FA had hoped to get more money following a good showing at the 2010 World Cup.

The South African campaign ended in ignominy but the Vauxhall deal is expected to be an improvement on Nationwide's offer, with the return of the Home Internationals as the quid pro quo.

In truth, this should not be too much of an imposition as Capello has already hinted he would like the games to return and all four home nations could do with the upswing in interest the games would undoubtedly bring.

In fact, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have already agreed to play a Home Championship-style event, with Ireland taking England's place. The Nations Cup starts in Dublin next month, with all six games taking place at the Aviva Stadium. The final game between Ireland and Scotland is on 27 May.

The BBC understands the details of a revived British Championship are yet to be sorted out but it is likely to follow the format used by rugby union's Six Nations, with home advantage in alternate years. Inviting Ireland to take part is also a possibility.

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) said it would welcome any discussions about the revival of the famous tournament.

An SFA spokesperson said: "We haven't been consulted yet but it is an interesting idea and we would obviously hope to be part of any discussions should the opportunity come along."

And the Football Association of Wales added: "[We] would be delighted if the British Home Championships were to return."

Should this happen, it would be absolutely fantastic. At a time where public interest in international football is arguably an all-time low, what better way to get people excited again with a good old England/Scotland game for a cup. Obviously with the Nations "Celtic" Cup already organised for this season without England, I for one would love this to return provided they worked everything out in terms of when about it would be played, etc.

[METALMAN]

Normally I would be all for this, but Scotland beat England last time they played each other and I'm happy for it to stay that way.

[Starvinho]

Seems a bit silly to me, especially for the top players who play 50-60 games a season potentially. Players need the whole summer off considering we have no winter break either. I'd like to see it be an Under-23 thing if it's going ahead, a tournament to blood new youngsters onto the full international scene.

[Lineker]

This idea for the home internationals now looks like a one off for the FA'a 150th anniversary not a full time return of the tournament.

FA's Alex Horne: "We are talking to other Home Nations about one-off tournament in 2013 to mark our 150th anniversary". One-off.

FA: No interest in reviving home nations tournament.

[brenchill]

I've just heard on the Radio that the Championship isn't coming back but instead England are just going to have "friendlies" against the Home Nation sides.

[Pesci]

That's probably the most pointless thing I've heard in a while. Make it a little competitive at least, christ.

[Cadj]

Normally I would be all for this, but Scotland beat England last time they played each other and I'm happy for it to stay that way.

Nah we'd beat England.

Then probably get hammered by Wales (again) and Northern Ireland.

[therockbox]

Utterly pointless. We'd be far better served trying to organise tournaments with the bigger nations where we might actually learn something, rather than taking part in what will inevitibly turn into a who-can-kick-each-other-the-hardest competition.

[lanky316]

For a one off I don't see a problem and as it's during a quiet year would rather see this than promotional friendlies with the likes of Thailand. Actually a good excuse to get rid of those fucking stupid ones in September...

[Pesci]

I wouldn't mind a tournament at all, since I think our upper limit is as the 7th or 8th best team in the world and if we do any better than that in things like the World Cup it's because we've played above our station/other teams have played bad/we've had an easy run. Something we can actually feel competitive in wouldn't be bad, and banter with the Scots and Irish is always good, and it's always good for a laugh when the Welsh chime in. But ugh, there's no need for a bunch of pointless friendlies where nothing's at stake and the Scots will spend like 15 years bragging about it if they win even though we likely won't be full strength. Friendlies should be spent playing teams we can actually expect to play in the tournaments we qualify for, not a bunch of teams who won't qualify and aren't any better than the teams we're already playing competitively in the qualifiers.

[brenchill]

Now that we're not hosting the World Cup it's ok to bring back the Home Nations.

Grab a chair leg and put your best Henri Lloyd gear on. Bring on the violence.

[britneyspearsisgod]

As a one-off tournament, I see no problem here. It's a bit of nostalgia and gives fans something to gear up for. Whoever the new England manager is at that point, it'd be a great boost for the country if they get one over their rivals. I think it's a nice idea.

As a re-occurring event, it depends on how regular it was. Every four years would be alright. Every two years would be a push, but not every year. All of the nations need to play a variety of teams to keep their standards up.

[Colly]

Should've happened the summer none of qualified for the Euros. Either way I'm all for it, having a fairly competitive tournament leading into a major tournament year might actually kill off some of the egos in the England squad when we lose every game (except Scotland, obv) and have to play well rather than just turn up.

[Cactus Drags]

Seems a bit silly to me, especially for the top players who play 50-60 games a season potentially. Players need the whole summer off considering we have no winter break either. I'd like to see it be an Under-23 thing if it's going ahead, a tournament to blood new youngsters onto the full international scene.

Until footballers start playing a full contact sport every other night 80+ times a year, your argument holds no merit. Man up.

[METALMAN]

Seems a bit silly to me, especially for the top players who play 50-60 games a season potentially. Players need the whole summer off considering we have no winter break either. I'd like to see it be an Under-23 thing if it's going ahead, a tournament to blood new youngsters onto the full international scene.

Until footballers start playing a full contact sport every other night 80+ times a year, your argument holds no merit. Man up.

Oh yes, I forgot - the more times you get the shit kicked out of you a year, the more manly; and ergo better, your sport is.

whatevs man.

whatactualevs