help with question

I was asked a question the other night in the local and it's doing my head in,
the question was what country have Ireland played most internationals against, I quessed Poland but I have'nt a clue, the guy left the pub without
telling us the answer and I just can't it out of my head, anyone got any ideas

 

I think its England, very much open to correction though.

 

it's a toughie is'nt it sean

 

To me i'd say it's either Belgium, Holland or Spain. A toss up between them i'd say.

 

Played:

England - 14 Times

Belgium - 14 Times

Holland - 19 Times

Spain - 23 Times

 

Spain 23 times I'd never have thought that

 

I'd never have guessed either. Surprising one that.

 

ya surprised me to. honestly thought it would be england.

 

is this correct or does it include the northern ireland team
i cant remember too many rep. v spain games

 

defo Spain at one stage there we were meeting them in nearly every euro and world cup qualifing group

 

these are all considered irish internationals and theres actually 24. counted wrong first time around.

6 26.04.1931 Barcelona Spain 1-1
7 13.12.1931 Dublin Spain 0-5
32 23.06.1946 Madrid Spain 1-0
34 02.03.1947 Dublin Spain 3-2
37 30.05.1948 Barcelona Spain 1-2
42 12.06.1949 Dublin Spain 1-4
54 01.06.1952 Madrid Spain 0-6
66 27.11.1955 Dublin Spain 2-2
94 11.03.1964 Seville Spain 1-5 ECq
95 08.04.1964 Dublin Spain 0-2 ECq
101 05.05.1965 Dublin Spain 1-0 WCq
102 27.10.1965 Seville Spain 1-4 WCq
103 10.11.1965 Paris Spain 0-1 WCq
107 23.10.1966 Dublin Spain 0-0 ECq
109 07.12.1966 Valencia Spain 0-2 ECq
159 09.02.1977 Dublin Spain 0-1
199 17.11.1982 Dublin Spain 3-3 ECq
201 27.04.1983 Zaragoza Spain 0-2 ECq
215 26.05.1985 Cork Spain 0-0
245 16.11.1988 Seville Spain 0-2 WCq
248 26.04.1989 Dublin Spain 1-0 WCq
284 18.11.1992 Seville Spain 0-0 WCq
292 13.10.1993 Dublin Spain 1-3 WCq
379 16.06.2002 Suwon Spain 1-1 WC

 

cheers
i diffently wouldnt remember most of them

 

I remember reading up about these three games before - it was in the days before aggregate scores were used and teams played over two legs with the two results as opposed to scorelines counting up as to who went through.


With Ireland winning their home game and Spain winning their home game a final one off game was required to see who'd qualify for the world cup in 1966. London was selected as the venue (not sure if it was because it was going to host the tournament 7 months later or for other reasons) but the Spanish were very wary of this as London was full of Irish workers at the time and the game would effectively be a home game for Ireland. Spain came to the FAI with a proposal to switch the game to Paris and offer the full gate receipts to the FAI instead of spliting them between both associations. The FAI agreed to this, Spain won the contest at a ground which was full of Spaniards and not many Cork, Galway, Limerick or Dublin heads were spotted.

Spain went to the world cup, we didn't and England won.

 

learn something new every day dont we. good story duh.