Irish Football Association

The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the organising body for association football in Northern Ireland, and was historically the governing body for Ireland. 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 mostly 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 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, making it the fourth oldest national football association in the world (after those of England, Scotland, and Wales). 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 Ireland).

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

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.^[1] 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 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 its present location on Windsor Avenue in south Belfast, in a building once occupied by Thomas Andrews. 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.

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.

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.

Presidents

• 1880–1889 Lord Spencer Chichester
• 1889–1909 Marquis 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– Jim Shaw^[2]

Source: M. Brodie (ed.) (n.d.) The Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 2008/2009. Belfast:Ulster Tatler Publications

References

1. ^ IFA Cup Final replay 1921
2. ^ "Jim Shaw elected Irish Football Association president". BBC News Online. 2010-11-25. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/9229520.stm. Retrieved 2010-11-25. 

External links

• Official Irish FA Website
• Official Irish FA Youtube Channel
• Official Irish FA Bebo page
• Northern Ireland Women's Football Association
• Northern Ireland at FIFA site
• Northern Ireland at UEFA site