Irish National Football Team (IFA)

Ireland

Association	Irish Football Association
First jersey Second jersey
statistics
First international Ireland 0:13 England ( Belfast , Ireland ; February 18, 1882 )
Biggest win Ireland 7-0 Wales ( Belfast , Northern Ireland ; Feb 1, 1930 )
Biggest defeat Ireland 0:13 England ( Belfast , Ireland ; February 18, 1882 )
(Status: unknown)

The IFA Irish national football team represented all of Ireland as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1882 to 1921 and the northern part of the island as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1921 . The team was organized by the Irish Football Association based in Belfast . It was thus the forerunner of the Northern Ireland national football team .

history

Ireland first appeared in an international match in 1882. In Belfast, the team lost 0:13 to England - a record result that both associations still hold. The first win (4-1) followed in the 16th international match five years later, also in Belfast against Wales . The first home game outside of Belfast took place in Dublin in 1900 . By the end of 1920, the all-Ireland team had completed 101 international matches, all against the other home countries England, Scotland and Wales.

The IFA's selection after 1920 also consisted of players from all over Ireland; From when the “all-Irish” team became the “Northern Irish” team is controversial among the experts. In addition to the RSSSF, the English Football Association also made the change between 1920 and 1921 ; The FA regards, writes Peter Young, all games England played against this team up to and including 1920 as games against Ireland, those afterwards as games against Northern Ireland. Other chroniclers such as Guy Oliver see the transition between 1922 and 1923 or even 1923 and 1924, still others see the all-Irish team until the first official game of the national team of the Irish Free State in 1926. FIFA lists games in Northern Ireland from the match in England on 24. October 1924. This team, as Ireland, initially only competed against the three home country teams; Northern Ireland made the first game against a non-British opponent on August 11, 1948 against the USA (a 5-0 win in Belfast).

Since 1924 there was a competing national team of the FAI , which also appeared as Ireland and, like the team of the IFA, had the right to represent the entire island . Both teams relied players from the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland each in their selection. There were players who played in both national teams; for example Johnny Carey , who played 38 times for Ireland between 1937 and 1953 - 29 times for the IFA selection and a further nine times for the FAI selection . At least 38 players played for both teams. Since the IFA team did not belong to FIFA from 1928 to 1946, there were no problems with this - these only appeared during the qualification for the 1950 World Cup , when players competed for the FAI selection in qualification group 5 , but also in the IFA selection played in the British Home Championship , which was also considered a qualification for the World Cup that year. After four players had played in both teams' games, FIFA intervened and stipulated that from now on only players who were born within the boundaries of the respective area could compete in the two national teams.

Up until that time, the IFA team, like that of the FAI, had come under the name Ireland , Ireland. Since 1954, when FIFA enforced this rule, the team has officially played as Northern Ireland ; only in the British Home Championship it was Ireland until the second half of the 1970s .

title

• British Home Championship
  • Twice winner: 1903 (shared title), 1914
  • second five times: 1904 , 1926 , 1928 , 1938 , 1947

Player (selection)

→ See also: List of Northern Irish national football players

Tom Aherne Joe Bambrick Danny Blanchflower Louis Bookman Tommy Breen Johnny Carey Harry Chatton Billy Crone Peter Doherty Jimmy Dunne Tommy Eglington Tom Farquharson Peter Farrell

Patsy Gallacher George Gaukrodger Billy Gillespie Archie Goodall Val Harris Bobby Irvine Sam Irving Jimmy Kelly Jack Kirwan Bill Lacey Con Martin Billy McCracken Robert Milne

Patrick O'Connell Kevin O'Flanagan John Peden Jack Reynolds Reg Ryan Billy Scott Elisha Scott Paddy Sloan Olphert Stanfield Alex Stevenson Jackie Vernon Billy Walsh Davy Walsh

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ Ireland and Northern Ireland - international match results at RSSSF
2. ↑ Peter Young: England's Opponents: Ireland's National Football Teams , on England Football Online , revised edition of August 13, 2005, viewed on December 6, 2007
3. ↑ That is not consistent either: in a list of the official history of the FA by Niall Edworthy ( England: The Official FA History , Virgin Books, London, 1997), the games of all of Ireland and those of Northern Ireland are listed under the heading Ireland . Quoted from Peter Young: England's Opponents: Ireland's National Football Teams , August 13, 2005, viewed December 6, 2007
4. ↑ Guy Oliver, The Guinness Book of World Soccer: The History of the Game in Over 150 Countries , quoted from Peter Young: England's Opponents: Ireland's National Football Teams , August 13, 2005, viewed December 6, 2007
5. ↑ Keir Radnedge, The Complete Encyclopedia of Football , Carlton Books Ltd., London, 1998, quoted from Peter Young: England's Opponents: Ireland's National Football Teams , August 13, 2005, viewed December 6, 2007
6. ↑ RSSSF does not list this match; then a 2-2 draw in Belfast against France on May 12, 1951 was the first international game
7. ↑ List of national players who played for both associations
8. ↑ Peter Young, England's Opponents: Ireland's National Football Teams , August 13, 2005, viewed December 6, 2007

Web links

• British champion 1914
• Statistics of the Irish team's games against England before 1921