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Irish Football Association
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The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the organising body for football in Northern Ireland, and had historically been the governing body for the whole of the island. It should not be confused with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), which is the organising body in the Republic of Ireland.
Foundation of the IFA
The IFA was formed in 1880 by football clubs in the Belfast area, and in its infancy operated as the organising body for the sport across all of Ireland.
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Encyclopedia
The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the organising body for football in Northern Ireland, and had historically been the governing body for the whole of the island. It should not be confused with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), which is the organising body in the Republic of Ireland.
History
Foundation of the IFA
The IFA was formed in 1880 by football clubs in the Belfast area, and in its infancy operated as the organising body for the sport across all of Ireland. A meeting was called by Cliftonville FC of other football clubs that followed the rules set out by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). At that meeting, on 18 November of that year, they formed the IFA. It is the fourth oldest national football association in the world (after those of England, Scotland, and Wales). The first decision they took was to form an annual challenge cup competition similar to the FA Cup and Scottish Cup competitions, called the Irish Cup. Two years later, Ireland played its first international against England, losing 13-0 (which remains a record for both teams; a record win for England, a record loss for Northern Ireland).
North/South Split and the foundation of the FAI
Shortly before the partition of Ireland, in 1921, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) (known from 1923-36 as the Football Association of the Irish Free State (FAIFS)) was set up to regulate the game in what became the Irish Free State (now Ireland). The origin of the breakaway association lay in a bitter dispute over the venue for the replay of an Irish Cup match in 1921 involving Glentoran of Belfast and Shelbourne of Dublin. When the first cup match was drawn in Belfast, the IFA fixed the replay to be held again in Belfast. Shelbourne, with the support of the Leinster Football Association, objected, wishing to have the replay in Dublin. Such was the anger over the issue that the LFA broke away from the IFA and formed its own national association. Those behind the FAI believed that football should be regulated by a federation based in the Free State capital Dublin. They also accused the IFA of neglecting the development of the game in the South. The IFA's supporters argued that the federation should be based where the game was founded and mainly played: Ulster and its principal city, Belfast. Both federations claimed to represent the whole of the island and both competed as Ireland and both picked players from the two rival leagues, which also split at this time.
Interventions by FIFA effectively favoured the FAI by giving them de jure organising rights over the 26 counties of the Republic. From the 1950s onwards the IFA no longer claimed it was the federation for the whole of Ireland. In 1960 the association moved to its present location on Windsor Avenue in south Belfast, in a building once occupied by Thomas Andrews.
The IFA regulated the game in Northern Ireland, and all results obtained by the Irish national side and records in the Irish Football League and the cup competition stood as Northern Irish records. Therefore, in essence, the IFA as Northern Ireland's organising body is a direct continuation of the IFA as the organising body across all of Ireland.
Along with the other Home Nations' associations (the English FA, the Scottish Football Association, and the Football Association of Wales), the IFA sits on the International Football Association Board, which is responsible for the laws of the game. The IFA continues to have responsibility for the running of the Northern Irish national team.
In September 2006, Lars-Christer Olsson, CEO of UEFA, was quotedas anticipating that the IFA and the FAI would co-host the 2011 European Under-21 Championship.
The Northern Ireland Women's Football Association (NIWFA) is the IFA's women's football arm. It runs a Women's Cup, Women's League and the Northern Ireland women's national football team.
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