 Ireland's greatest success on the football field came when they won the 1913–14 British Home Championship.However the foundations for that success had been laid over a decade earlier when Ireland had pioneered the use of national team coaches.The first time in the history of modern football that a national team had a coach was on 20 February 1897 when Billy Crone was in charge of the Ireland team that lost 6–0 to England, again for the wins against Wales on 19 February 1898, on 4 March 1899, Ireland was coached by Hugh McAteer, and on 24 February 1900 Robert Torrans coached Ireland for the game against Wales.