When national teams had such a wealth of talent that it couldn't all be picked for the same side, it wasn't uncommon for a match to be arranged featuring a selection of players from, say, the English Football League and those playing in a nearby league, often Scotland, Wales or Ireland. Here, the national team managers could assess players who might be considered suitable for a place in a future squad line-up or those players returning from injury that needed match practice as part of their rehabilitation.
The practice of organising inter-league matches began as early as the 1890’s and were in some instances just as popular as the full international games we know and love today. It wasn't uncommon for tens of thousands of people to pass through the turnstiles to see what was in essence an international match of sorts.
