With all four Home Nations playing annual friendly matches, the decision was taken to organise the fixtures into a competition. The British Home Championship, a round-robin tournament, was subsequently formed and the inaugural season was held in 1884.[6] Wales won their opening fixture 6–0 against Ireland but defeats against England and Scotland in their remaining matches led to a third-place finish.[7] In 1888, Wales recorded the largest victory in the team's history by defeating Ireland 11–0; Jack Doughty scored four of his side's goals.[8] It was not until 1895 that Wales finished higher than third in the Championship, claiming a second-place finish after drawing all three fixtures.[7][9]
From the nation's first fixture in 1876 to the end of the century Wales played 63 fixtures, winning 11, drawing 8 and losing the remaining 44. Of the side's victories, 9 were secured over Ireland and 2 over England,[10][11] while they failed to defeat Scotland in 24 attempts during this period.[12] The team's struggles were exacerbated by the reluctance of clubs in the Football League to release Welsh players for international fixtures, which often clashed with league matches.[13] In the 1890s, Wales finished bottom of the British Home Championship in six of the ten tournaments held and lost nine of their final ten matches in the decade.[7]
Results
Wales' score is shown first in each case. The colours listed below are also used to signify results combined with the scoreline.
^Although some sources have credited Acton Park with the first home international, most contemporary sources support the Racecourse.[2]
^Table information sourced from the references listed in the statistics section below.
^Due to the unavailability of exact figures, attendance numbers are given as recorded estimates.
^Reports vary over the exact attendance due to poor weather conditions. Some reports estimate as few as 100 attended, although most sources approximate around 200.[14]
^The Football Association of Wales chose to hold a fixture in the English border town of Shrewsbury in the hope of drawing a larger crowd.[15]