The formation of the Football Association of Ireland

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the article is to ascertain the reasons for the split in Irish soccer which led to the formation of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). It looks at the main factors – the national political environment, internal politics and geography – that led to division within soccer and the attempts made by the fledgling FAI to survive and gain recognition from the moment of its foundation. It highlights the importance of international sporting federations, such as Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), in enabling national governing bodies to survive. Although the division in Irish soccer mirrored the political partition of Ireland, this article shows the reasons for the soccer division were quite separate. It demonstrates that the creation of borders leads to multiple actions and reactions, and in the case of Ireland, the political and legal partition of Ireland was not followed by a social and cultural partition.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Brodie, 100 Years of Irish Football, 15.

2. Sugden and Bairner, Sport, Sectarianism and Society in a Divided Ireland, 73.

3. Garnham, Association Football and Society in Pre-Partition Ireland, 161.

4. Cronin, Sport and Nationalism in Ireland, 121–4.

5. Garnham, Association Football and Society in Pre-Partition Ireland, 184.

6. Ibid., 189.

7. Tynan, ‘Association Football and Irish Society During the Inter-War Period, 1918–1939ʹ, 42.

8. Irish Football Association (hereafter referred to as IFA) Protests and Appeals – 1912-1922, D4196/K/1-2, 7 March 1921.

9. Irish Independent, 2 June 1921, 7.

10. Garnham, Association Football and Society in Pre-Partition Ireland, 178.

11. Buckland, Ulster Unionism and the Origins of Northern Ireland 1886–1922, 143.

12. Laffan, The Partition of Ireland 1911–1925, 70.

13. O’Day, Irish Home Rule 1867–1921, 303.

14. Tynan, ‘Association Football and Irish Society During the Inter-War Period’, 47.

15. Tannam, Cross-Border Cooperation in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, 43 and 45.

16. IFA Annual General Meetings 1910–1987, D/4196/U/1, 13 May 1922.

17. The Football Association (hereafter referred to as FA) Archives – International Selection Committee Meeting Minutes 1922–1923, 9 April 1923.

18. Cronin, Sport and Nationalism in Ireland, 125.

19. The Football Association of Ireland (hereafter referred to as FAI) Papers – P137/1 – International Recognition of the Football Association of the Irish Free State, 1922–1956, 17 March 1922 and Byrne, Green is the Colour, 74.

20. Ireland’s Saturday Night, 2 June 1923, p. 3.

21. IFA Emergency Minutes – 1909-1943, D4196/N/1, 6 June 1923.

22. Ibid., 21 June 1923.

23. Ireland’s Saturday Night, 16 June 1923, 3.

24. Ireland’s Saturday Night, 21 July 1923, 4 and IFA Emergency Minutes – 1909-1943, D4196/N/1, 13 August 1923.

25. Byrne, Green is the Colour, 79.

26. The FA Archives – Minutes of the Meeting of the Council 1921–1922, 27 March 1922.

27. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/1, 17 March 1922.

28. Ireland’s Saturday Night, 20 August 1921, 4.

29. Irish Times, 21 September 1921, 4.

30. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/3, 5 June 1923.

31. Tomlinson, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), 16.

32. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/1, 22 December 1922.

33. Ibid., 10 May 1923.

34. Ibid.

35. Cronin, Sport and Nationalism in Ireland, 125.

36. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/3, 3 May 1923.

37. Dempsey and Boylan, Dictionary of Irish Biography, available from http://dib.cambridge.org/; accessed on 3 November 2020.

38. The FA Archives – Minutes of the Meeting of the Council 1923–1924, 16 May 1923.

39. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/3, 5 June 1923.

40. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (hereafter referred to as FIFA) – Minutes of the 12^th Annual Congress – Held at Geneva, 20 May 1923.

41. Irish Times, 26 May 1923, 5.

42. Ireland’s Saturday Night, 9 June 1923, 3.

43. FIFA – Official Communication, 28 September 1923 and FIFA – Minutes of the 13^th Annual Congress – Held at Paris, 24 May 1924.

44. The FA Archives – Council Meeting Minutes 1923–1924, 27 August 1923.

45. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/2, 18 October 1923.

46. Ibid., 18 October 1923.

47. Ibid., 13 July 1923.

48. Sahlins, Boundaries, L. 197.

49. Readman, Radding and Bryant, ‘Introduction: Borderlands in a Global Perspective’, 14.

50. IFA Protests and Appeals – 1912-1922, D4196/K/1-2, 7 March 1921.

51. For details on the IFA council and sub-committee make-up, see Moore, The Irish Soccer Split, 100–102.

52. See IFA Annual General Meetings 1910–1987, D/4196/U/1, 11 May 1912 and 11 May 1918.

53. See Records of the Irish Rugby Football Union (hereafter called IRFU) (Ulster Branch), D3867, the Irish Hockey Association, DCSA/13/1/2 and Minute Book of the Northern Cricket Union, D4213/A/1.

54. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/1, 17 March 1921.

55. Leinster Football Association (hereafter referred to as LFA) Papers, LFA Book 1915–1922, 14 March 1921.

56. Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 23 March 1921, 3.

57. Garnham, Association Football and Society in Pre-Partition Ireland, 179.

58. Irish News, 23 March 1921, 2.

59. Ibid.

60. IFA Minute Book 1909–1928, D4196/A/3, 22 March 1921.

61. LFA Papers, LFA Minute Book 1915–1922, 7 April 1921.

62. Sport, 16 April 1921, 4.

63. LFA Papers, LFA Minute Book 1915–1922, 4 May 1921.

64. Irish Independent, 2 June 1921, 7.

65. Ibid.

66. Freeman’s Journal, 2 June 1921, 7.

67. Sport, 12 March 1921, 14.

68. Irish News, 14 March 1921, 2.

69. Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 19 March 1921, 3.

70. Ireland’s Saturday Night, 4 June 1921, 4.

71. For details on the attempts to re-unify, see Moore, The Irish Soccer Split.

72. Tynan, ‘Association Football and Irish Society During the Inter-War Period’, 36.

73. Bowman, De Valera and the Ulster Question 1917–1973, 21.

74. Kennedy, The Widening Gulf, 6.

75. Irish News, 23 March 1921, 2.

76. Sport, 19 March 1921, 3; 2 April 1921, 3; and 9 April 1921, 3.

77. Irish Independent, 3 September 1921, 7.

78. Toms, Soccer in Munster, 116.

79. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/1, 17 March 1922.

80. IFA Annual General Meetings 1910–1987, D/4196/U/1, 13 May 1922.

81. Irish Independent, 2 February 1923, 9.

82. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/1, 17 March 1922.

83. Toms, Soccer in Munster, 117.

84. Football Sports Weekly, 3 October 1925, 7.

85. Football Sports Weekly, 29 August 1925, 7.

86. Football Sports Weekly, 12 December 1925, 1.

87. Toms, ‘Notwithstanding the Discomfort Involved’, 6.

88. Toms, Soccer in Munster, 207.

89. Tynan, ‘Association Football and Irish Society During the Inter-War Period’, 137.

90. Football Sports Weekly, 29 August 1925, 9.

91. Walsh, Twenty Years of Irish Soccer, 25.

92. Briggs and Dodd, Leinster Football Association 100 Years Centenary Yearbook 1892–1992, 45.

93. Ryan, The Official Book of the FAI Cup, 22.

94. Curran, The Development of Sport in Donegal 1880–1935, 189.

95. Ibid., 189.

96. Tynan, ‘Association Football and Irish Society During the Inter-War Period’, 128.

97. IFA Emergency Minutes – 1909-1943, D4196/N/1, 1 October 1925.

98. The FAI Papers, International Minute Book, P137/1, 22 August 1924.