Portal:Ireland/Selected article archive/6

Ireland national football team was the national association football team that represented Ireland from 1882 until 1950. The team was organised by the Irish Football Association, formed in 1880 in Belfast to organise football throughout the island of Ireland. Together with England, Scotland and Wales, they competed regularly in the British Home Championship. In 1914 Ireland were British Champions and in 1950 they played in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup.

After 1921 the right of the IFA to field an all-Ireland team was challenged by the rival Dublin - based Football Association of Ireland when it began organising its own national team. In subsequent years there were in effect two Ireland teams. Both the IFA and FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and selected players from the whole island. The situation remained unresolved until 1950 when both teams entered the qualifying rounds of the 1950 FIFA World Cup - the first time the two teams had competed in the same competition. As a result several players found themselves playing for two national teams in the same competition. FIFA intervened and decreed that for future World Cups, the IFA team would compete as Northern Ireland, while the FAI team would be officially known as the Republic of Ireland. Read more...