Madam, - In his Irishman's Diary of October 21st, Frank Johnstone presented a fascinating story of the soccer international against England in 1949. However, he fell into the trap of assuming that the Irish victory should be regarded as the first defeat of England by a European team on English soil rather than that by Hungary in 1953 (as claimed by the English FA website).
In fact the (32-county) Ireland team had gained a 3-0 victory over England at Middlesbrough as far back as 1914. Like the 1949 side they were captained by a Manchester United star, in this case Mickey Hamill.
England had previously been beaten at home by both Scotland and Wales.
Perhaps Mr Johnstone should advise the FA that England's home defeat to Hungary was merely the first to a team from beyond the British Isles, if that is not opening another can of worms. - Yours, etc,
KEVIN O'SULLIVAN, Ballyraine Park, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.