Irish Football Association

Original Irish FA crest

Foundation of the IFA

The IFA was formed on 18 November 1880 by seven football clubs mostly in the Belfast area, as the organising body for the sport across all of Ireland. A meeting was called by Cliftonville 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, seven clubs formed the IFA, making it the fourth oldest national football association in the world (after those of England, Scotland and Wales). The founding members were: Alexander, Avoniel, Cliftonville, Distillery, Knock, Moyola Park and Oldpark.^[1] The IFA's first decision 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, and a record loss for (Northern) Ireland).

North/South split and the foundation of the Football Association of Ireland

Belfast Headquarters of the Irish Football Association at 20 Windsor Avenue, Belfast.

Shortly after the partition of Ireland, in 1921, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) was established as a rival association to regulate the game in what was to become the Irish Free State. The immediate cause of the split 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, because of the Irish war of independence, the IFA reneged on a promise to play the replay in Dublin and scheduled the rematch again for Belfast. Shelbourne refused to comply and forfeited the Cup.^[2] Such was the anger over the issue that the Leinster Football Association 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 Irish Free State's 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 mainly played – namely Ulster, and its principal city Belfast.

Both associations claimed to represent the whole of the island, each competing internationally under the name "Ireland" and selecting players from both the rival national leagues, which also split at this time. Interventions by FIFA gave the FAI de jure organising rights over the 26 counties of the Republic, with the IFA restricted to Northern Ireland. From the 1950s onwards, the IFA no longer claimed it was the association for the whole of Ireland. In 1960, the association moved to Windsor Avenue in south Belfast, in a building once occupied by Thomas Andrews. The IFA moved again in 2016 to its current location at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, Belfast. The IFA continued to regulate 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 stand as Northern Irish records.

Summary

Irish Football Association mural

1880 – IFA founded in Belfast, representing all of Ireland ("Ireland")

1921 – FAI founded in Dublin, representing Southern Ireland ("Irish Free State")

1936 – FAI begins also selecting Northern players ("Ireland"/"Éire")

1946 – FAI stops selecting Northern players ("Republic of Ireland" as of 1954)^[3]

1950 – IFA stops selecting Southern players ("Northern Ireland" as of 1954)^[3]

Therefore,

IFA (today Northern Ireland) represented all of Ireland between 1880–1950

FAI (today Republic of Ireland) represented all of Ireland between 1936–1946

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.

Discover more about History related topics

Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 10th-largest primary urban area in the United Kingdom and the second-largest city in Ireland. It had a population of 345,418 in 2021.

Football Association of Wales

Football Association of Wales

The Football Association of Wales is the governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, its corresponding women's team, as well as the Wales national futsal team. It is a member of FIFA, UEFA and the IFAB.

Alexander F.C.

Alexander F.C.

Alexander Football Club is a former Irish football club from Limavady, County Londonderry. It was founded in 1880 by members of the Alexander Cricket Club. and was a founding member of the Irish Football Association. The club played in the early years of the Irish Cup. In 1884, it merged with the Limavady Wanderers club to form Limavady F.C.

Avoniel F.C.

Avoniel F.C.

Avoniel Football Club is a former Irish football club based in east Belfast. It was founded in 1880 and was subsequently a founding member of the Irish Football Association. The club played in the early years of the Irish Cup. Its ground was Beechfield on the Mountpottinger Road in Belfast. It folded after a few years.

Lisburn Distillery F.C.

Lisburn Distillery F.C.

Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, County Down. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of the Northern Ireland Football League. The club was simply known as Distillery Football Club from 1880 to 1999.

Knock F.C.

Knock F.C.

Knock Football Club is a former Irish football club based in east Belfast.

Moyola Park F.C.

Moyola Park F.C.

Moyola Park Association Football Club is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League. The club, founded in 1880, hails from Castledawson, near Magherafelt, County Londonderry, and plays its home matches at the Mill Meadow, which has an artificial "3G" surface. Club colours are royal blue and yellow. They are currently managed by Stephen Hughes. The club won the inaugural Irish Cup in 1881.

Oldpark F.C.

Oldpark F.C.

Oldpark Football Club is an Irish former football club from north Belfast. It was founded in 1880 by members of the Oldpark Cricket Club. It was subsequently a founding member of the Irish Football Association in 1880 and the Irish Football League in 1890, but retained membership of the latter only for two seasons. The club reached the final of the County Antrim Shield in 1890-91 but lost. The club folded after the 1891–92 season.

FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competition in the world. It is organised by and named after The Football Association. Since 2015, it has been known as The Emirates FA Cup after its headline sponsor. A concurrent Women's FA Cup has been held since 1970.

Irish Cup

Irish Cup

The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Inaugurated in 1881, it is the fourth-oldest national cup competition in the world. Prior to the break-away from the Irish Football Association by clubs from what would become the Irish Free State in 1921, the Irish Cup was the national cup competition for the whole of Ireland.

Football Association of Ireland

Football Association of Ireland

The Football Association of Ireland is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland.

Irish Free State

Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the forces of the Irish Republic – the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and British Crown forces.

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, a range of underage football camps^[4] and the Northern Ireland women's national football team. In April 2014, Northern Ireland's Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure Carál Ní Chuilín threatened to cut the IFA's funding unless it stopped treating women's football as "an after thought".^[5]

Discover more about Women's football related topics

Northern Ireland Women's Football Association

Northern Ireland Women's Football Association

The Northern Ireland Women's Football Association (NIWFA) is the governing body of women's association football in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1977.

Northern Ireland women's national football team

Northern Ireland women's national football team

The Northern Ireland women's national football team represents Northern Ireland in international women's football. Although most national football teams represent a sovereign state, FIFA statutes permit Northern Ireland as a member of the United Kingdom's Home Nations to maintain its own national side that competes in all major tournaments, with the exception of the Women's Olympic Football Tournament.

Carál Ní Chuilín

Carál Ní Chuilín

Carál Ní Chuilín, formerly known as Caroline Cullen, is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional IRA member. She has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast North since 2007 and served in the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure until 2016. On 15 June 2020, she was appointed Minister for Communities on a temporary basis, due to the health of the previous minister, Deirdre Hargey.

• 1880–1889 Lord Spencer Chichester
• 1889–1909 Marquess of Londonderry
• 1909–1912 Alexander H. Thompson
• 1912–1914 Hugh Hegan
• 1914–1945 Sir James McIlmunn Wilton
• 1945–1948 Austin Donnelly
• 1948–1957 Frederick J. Cochrane
• 1957–1958 Joseph MacBride
• 1958–1994 Harry Cavan
• 1995 Sammy Walker
• 1995–2007 Jim Boyce
• 2007–2010 Raymond Kennedy
• 2010–2016 Jim Shaw^[6]
• 2016– David Martin^[7]

^[8]

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Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry

Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry

Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry,, styled Viscount Castlereagh between 1872 and 1884, was a British Conservative politician, landowner and benefactor, who served in various capacities in the Conservative administrations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After succeeding his father in the marquessate in 1884, he was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland between 1886 and 1889. He later held office as Postmaster General between 1900 and 1902 and as President of the Board of Education between 1902 and 1905. A supporter of the Protestant causes in Ulster, he was an opponent of Irish Home Rule and one of the instigators of the formal alliance between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Unionists in 1893.

Harry Cavan

Harry Cavan

Harry Cavan CBE was Vice - President of FIFA from 1960 to 1980 and Senior Vice-President of FIFA from 1980 to 1990, and president of the Irish Football Association from 1958 to 1994. Its Harry Cavan Youth Cup is named after him.

Jim Boyce

Jim Boyce

James Richard Wesley Boyce OBE is a former Vice-President of FIFA. He was the president of Northern Ireland's football organising body, the IFA, from 1995 to 2007.

David Martin (football official)

David Martin (football official)

David Martin, is a Northern Irish football official who is currently a member of the FIFA Council elected since 2021.