England vs Scotland - Facts and Figures - Historical overview of the football rivalry

Famous Matches

31 March 1928 – The Birth of the Wembley Wizards

England (Bob Kelly 89?) 1–5 Scotland (Alex Jackson 3?, 65?, 85?; Alex James 44?, 74?)Wembley Stadium, LondonAttendance: 80,868Referee: Willie Bell (Scotland)

England

GK Ted Hufton (West Ham United)FB Roy Goodall (Huddersfield Town) (c)FB Herbert Jones (Blackburn Rovers)RH Willis Edwards (Leeds United)CH Thomas Wilson (Huddersfield Town)LH Henry Healless (Blackburn Rovers)RW Joe Hulme (Arsenal)IR Bob Kelly (Huddersfield Town)CF Dixie Dean (Everton)IL Joe Bradford (Birmingham)LW Billy Smith (Huddersfield Town)

Scotland

GK Jack Harkness (Queen’s Park)FB James Nelson (Cardiff City)FB Tommy Law (Chelsea)RH Jimmy Gibson (Aston Villa)CH Tom Bradshaw (Bury)LH Jimmy McMullan (Manchester City) (c)RW Alex Jackson (Huddersfield Town)IR James Dunn (Hibernian)CF Hughie Gallacher (Newcastle United)IL Alex James (Preston North End)LW Alan Morton (Rangers)

Neither team had won a match heading into this 1928 British Home Championship game, leaving both of the tournament’s historical giants battling it out for the wooden spoon.

The Scottish team was written off before the match by the media and the fans, with usual stars like Davie Meiklejohn, Jimmy McGrory and Willie McStay omitted for the likes of debutante Tom Bradshaw (who would mark the legendary Dixie Dean out of the game) and recent returnee from injury Hughie Gallacher. The Scottish team were less powerful and less talented up front than their English counterparts and were expected to lose handsomely.

The scoreline makes it clear how the match went. The rain-soaked pitch played into Scotland’s hands, and they handled the soggy weather a lot better than the heavily fancied England. It was not only a historic day for the teams, but for Wembley Stadium itself. In a booklet published by the stadium owners in 1945, the story is told like this:

“English football fans shudder when the year 1928 is mentioned. The traditional enemy, Scotland came to Wembley and gave the Sassenachs a first class lesson in the art of playing football. So much so that, to this day, that Scottish team is still spoken of as ‘The Wembley Wizards’. All Scotland seemed to come to town for that match, and the fans actually brought their own scaling ladders to make sure of getting into the stadium. As a result of this, Wembley afterwards became a barbed wire fortress.

The King and Queen of Afghanistan were among the mammoth crowd who saw the Scots make rings around England. It was Scotland’s day without a doubt. Alan Morton, Glasgow Rangers’ Wee Blue Devil, and Alex Jackson, then with Huddersfield and later with Chelsea, were on the Scottish wings and the English defenders just couldn’t do anything about them. Also of course there was the great Alex James – he of long pants who rarely scored a goal but made openings for hundreds.”

15 April 1961 – Hapless Haffey

England (Bobby Robson 9?, Jimmy Greaves 21?, 30?, 83?, Bryan Douglas 55?, Bobby Smith 73?, 85?, Johnny Haynes 78?, 82′) 9–3 Scotland (Dave Mackay 48?, Davie Wilson 53?, Pat Quinn 75′)

It’s fair to say England got their revenge for the Wembley Wizards match.

Scotland suffered their heaviest ever defeat to England in this match, and is famous for partially causing Scotland goalkeeper Frank Haffey to emigrate to Australia a few years after the match.

This was only Haffey’s second match for Scotland, the first also being against their biggest rivals in a creditable 1-1 draw at Hampden Park the year before. This match would be his last one for Scotland.

Haffey had an absolute nightmare, fumbling numerous shots as England went 3-0 up within 30 minutes, then letting five goals in the last 15 minutes. Whether it was nerves or incompetence, I’ll never know.

Haffey was always an eccentric goalkeeper, but his career went steadily downhill after the 9-3 drubbing.

In February 1962, he managed to put a free kick into the net by himself. March 1963 saw him inexplicably throw the ball between his legs into the goal, while a Scottish Cup semi-final the next month saw him boot the ball straight to an opposing striker, who gleefully fired the ball past Frank.

Wikipedia reliably informs me he called it a day in 1965 and moved to Australia to become, of all things, a cabaret singer.