Herbert opened the scoring
David Barber
Tuesday, 22 March, 2011
England and Wales meet for the 100th time at the weekend.
When England play Wales in Saturday’s EURO 2012 Qualifier in Cardiff, it will be the hundredth match between the two countries. The series began back in 1879 and has included six World Cup Qualifiers and two Euro Qualifiers.
The teams last met in Millennium Stadium on 3 September 2005, England winning a World Cup Qualifier with Joe Cole’s goal on 53 minutes, and England’s record against the Welsh so far is: Played 99, Won 64, Drawn 21, Lost 14. The goal tallies are 242-90.
That first meeting had some interesting circumstances…
It was England’s eighth match in history, all the previous seven having been against Scotland, and it was played at Kennington Oval in London on 18 January 1879. The crowd, on a bitterly cold afternoon, is usually given as 200 – the lowest for any England international.
The pitch had a light covering of snow and the captains agreed before kick-off that they would only play two halves of 30 minutes each. So it was the shortest England international too!
England started a man short. William Clegg of Sheffield Albion, a barrister, was said to have arrived late at the ground and only taken his place after 20 minutes. But Herbert Whitfeld, an Old Etonian, had given England an early lead and they went on to win 2-1.
Whitfeld, then 20, didn’t play for England again but he later became a director of Barclays Bank in London.