How the Home International Tournament can revive the England football team

its coming home, its coming...

As much as it pains me to admit, lest I lose any crumbs of credibility I may have once had, I had not untill today heard of the Home International Tournament. The biggest shame about this oversight in my grasp of British football history is that had I known about it sooner, I would be a lot further into my campaign to make sure it definitely happens.

There are a number of reasons why I think that a (possibly) annual tournament between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a great idea. The first of which I will illustrate with the following visual aid...

For my non-English readers (readers not from England that is - not non-English speaking readers, which if they are any, congratulations to you - its suprising enough to me that people will read my rantings in their native tounge) you may not be aware of the emotions that the above picture can raise in the heart of an English football fan. Put simply, there is nothing quite like sticking it to your neighbours.

Unfortunately, the chance to play the old rivals happens only on the rarest of occasions and has not taken place now for over a decade. So why should we be deprived of this historic match up? Why should we be deprived of taking the piss out of your English workmates when Scotland thump England at Wembley (for example) ? Why should we be deprived of the perfect outlet for patriotism in football? Why should we be deprived when the rugby supporters get this every year? The awnser - we SHOULD NOT.

Above image used to represent a 'friendly' football orgy match

The second, and most important reason for why the Home International Tournament (HIT) should be reinstated, is that it can be used, in part, to get rid of the friendly game. The pointless, dull and constantly dissapointing friendly games - when the established squad members trot around for 80 minutes trying not to get injured or make a mistake. Followed closely by the introduction of numerous youngsters and championship club call ups, who have a whole 10 minutes to show that they are not yet up to standard.

With the possible resurrection of the HIT being touted for 2013, would it not be so much more beneficial, the year before a world cup, for the England team to have at least 3 intense games against bitter rivals. The players will have an incentive to show the passion and will to win that is so often completely missing from our friendly games, allowing the manager a better view as to who is really willing to put themselves on the line for the cause. After last years dissapointing show at the World Cup, with many players labelled as 'not really trying' - I truly believe that playing in a HIT will only help to reinvigorate a stale and lacklustre England squad (that is assuming that this is still the case in two years, which I can only assume it will be.)

Is it just a coincidence that the last time England won the Six Nations tournament, they went on to win the Rugby World Cup in the same year?