The2011 Nations Cup (also known as theCarling Nations Cup after its headline sponsor) was around-robinfootball tournament between theNorthern Ireland,Republic of Ireland,Scotland, andWales national teams.[1] The first set of two games were played inDublin in February, with the remaining four games played in May 2011.[2][3] It was won by theRepublic of Ireland, who won all three of their games without conceding a goal.
Thefirst international association football match was played betweenEngland andScotland, two of theHome Nations of the United Kingdom, in 1872.[4] The remaining two Home Nations,Wales andIreland both played their first matches within the following decade, in 1876 and 1882 respectively.[5] The first meetings between the sides werefriendlies until they were organised to form theBritish Home Championship, the first international football tournament, for the1883–84 season.[6] The competition continued for 100 years, although it was not held during the First or Second World War, before being abolished in 1984 due to claims of fading interest and low crowds.[7]
Calls for the return of the a competition between the Home Nations had been sporadically raised since the end of the British Home Championship with varying degrees of success,[8] but the idea gained widespread attention in 2006 when Northern Ireland managerLawrie Sanchez called for its return.[9] In 2007, the national football associations of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland met with Wales raising a proposal to revive a Home Nations tournament in the form of a "Celtic Cup" in response to the failure of any British side to qualify forUEFA Euro 2008. However, the plan was ultimately delayed due to fixture congestion with2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures already being in place.[10][11] The competition was officially announced in September the following year with the tournament scheduled to be held inDublin between February and May 2011. England chose to turn down the chance to take part in the competition citing fixture congestion.[10][12] TheFootball Association of Wales stated its belief in 2007 that England might have joined at a later date if they could have been convinced that there were "practical solutions" to problems like fixture congestion.[13]
It was announced on 12 August 2010, that the tournament would be sponsored by brewing companyCarling, and known for sponsorship reasons as the Carling Nations Cup.[1][14] A second tournament was provisionally scheduled to take place in Wales in 2013.[15]
The 2011 Nations Cup began in February 2011 at theAviva Stadium in Dublin. The Republic of Ireland won the inaugural tournament after winning all three of their matches, culminating with a 1–0 win over Scotland on the final matchday. It was originally intended to be a biennial tournament, but poor attendance at the first tournament meant that it was discontinued.[2][16][17]
The Nations Cup plan initially proposed the tournament would be played as a knockout competition, with the semi-finals being played in August and the final and third-place playoff being played the following February.[10] However, the competition was eventually structured as around-robin, with each team playing each of the others once, resulting in a total of six games in each season of the competition.[1][2] Three of the teams involved (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) had formerly competed in the now defunct British Home Championship, along with England.[9] The matches in the 2011 tournament were played in February and May, with the location due to rotate on a tournament-by-tournament basis.[18]Brittany also expressed an interest in taking part.[19]
The opening match of the competition was played on 8 February 2011 in front of more than 19,000 spectators and featured tournament hosts the Republic of Ireland and Wales. The match wasGary Speed's first fixture in charge of Wales since his appointment as manager in December 2010. Ireland nearly took an early lead whenDamien Duff struck the post within the opening five minutes of the game. Wales were denied a penalty by referee Mark Courtney whenHal Robson-Kanu went down in the Ireland penalty box under pressure fromSéamus Coleman in a first half that was described byThe Guardian as "tame and error-strewn".[20] Ireland registered a number of chances early in the second half beforeDarron Gibson scored the tournament's opening goal when he played aone-two withGlen Whelan before scoring from 25 yards. Duff added a second seven minutes later with his first international goal for five years beforeKeith Fahey scored his side's third goal in the final ten minutes with a 20-yard free-kick.[20][21]
Northern Ireland and Scotland met a day after the opening match, attracting a crowd of more than 18,000. Scotland midfielderScott Brown suffered an injury in the warm-up leading to his withdrawal from the starting line-up. When the match began, Northern Ireland enjoyed the brighter start asNiall McGinn saw a shot saved by opposition goalkeeperAllan McGregor However, Scotland soon took control of the match andKenny Miller, captaining Scotland for the first time in his career, gave his side the lead after 19 minutes after a corner fell to him a yard from the goalline. The goal was the first Scotland had scored in an away fixture since December 2009.[22] Scotland applied further pressure;Steven Caldwell hit the crossbar with a header andKris Commons' shot was cleared off the goalline beforeJames McArthur, Brown's late replacement in the side, added a second goal after 31 minutes. In the opening minutes of the second half, Scotland scored a third goal via Commons. The match ended in a 3–0 victory for Scotland, matching Ireland's opening result and recording the biggest away victory for the Scots in more than five years.[22][23]
The second round of fixtures began with a fixture between the Republic of Ireland and neighbouring Northern Ireland on 24 May. A row between the two nations over player eligibility, brought on by two Northern Irish youth internationals changing allegiances in the lead up to the fixture,[24] lead to a boycott of the match by fans of the side with only around 200 travelling to the game. Although Northern Ireland started well, the Republic took the lead shortly before half-time through debutantStephen Ward after an error by opposition goalkeeperAlan Blayney. Republic strikerRobbie Keane capitalised on another defensive error shortly afterwards, intercepting a pass byLee Hodson before converting. The Republic added a third before half time when Northern Ireland defenderCraig Cathcart turned a cross into his own net.[25]
Early in the second half, a poor clearance by Blayney led toAdam Thompson conceding a penalty following a foul on Keane. Thompson received the only red card of the Nations Cup for his foul, despite Keane calling for leniency from refereeCraig Thomson. Keane converted the resulting penalty for his second goal of the game. Another debutant,Simon Cox, scored a fifth for the Republic with ten minutes remaining. The five goal deficit was the largest margin of victory ever recorded by the Republic over Northern Ireland and was the Republic's largest victory since a win overSan Marino by the same scoreline in 2006.[25][26]
TheFootball Association of Ireland was criticised by the media, supporters and other football associations for setting high ticket prices. The 51,700-capacityAviva Stadium was less than half-full for all of the games.[28][29] The game between Wales and Northern Ireland was attended by only 529 fans, many of whom were Scots who happened to be in Dublin for their country's game two days later.
During the game between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Republic fans booed "God Save the Queen", and Northern Ireland fans booed the President of Ireland,Mary McAleese, as she greeted players before the game.[30][31] Northern Ireland fans were criticised for singingsectarian chants at games.[32]Scotland fans also booed "God Save the Queen", when playing Northern Ireland.[33]
Wales manager Gary Speed criticised the tournament organisers for scheduling Wales' games to be within three days of each other, the only team to suffer such timing. He also criticised the officiating in the game against Scotland, in which in his opinion several fouls on Welsh players went unpunished.[34][35]
After the first tournament, which attracted some small attendances, there was a dispute about the division of revenues between the four associations.[15] In early 2011, it was reported byBBC Sport that there was a possibility of the British Home Championship being revived in 2013,[36][37] but no tournament was held. Jim Shaw, the president of theIrish Football Association, said in January 2012 that he did not envisage a second tournament being staged.[15]
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Republic of Ireland
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Wales
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