Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
in Northern Ireland, widely known as
football or sometimes as soccer (to avoid confusion with
Gaelic football
Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
), is one of the most popular sports in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. The governing body in Northern Ireland is the
Irish Football Association (IFA) (not to be confused with the
Football Association of Ireland (FAI) in the Republic of Ireland). Gaelic football, rugby union and association football are the most popular sports in Northern Ireland.
Governing body
The
Irish Football Association is the organising body for
football in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
, and was historically the governing body for the whole of
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
until the FAI split away. The IFA has a permanent seat on the
International Football Association Board, which is responsible for the laws of the game.
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.
Competitions
The domestic league is the
NIFL Premiership. Some of the major teams include
Linfield,
Larne,
Crusaders,
Cliftonville
Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...
,
Portadown
Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
and
Glentoran. A notable historic club was
Belfast Celtic, which won nineteen championships before resigning from the league in 1949 and disbanding after a sectarian riot at its Boxing Day match against Linfield.
Derry City also left the league in 1972 following security issues arising from the
Troubles, eventually to play in the FAI's
League of Ireland. Linfield has won 56 league championships to date, more than twice as many titles as any other Northern Irish club and the highest tally of national top-flight titles won by any club worldwide.
The
Milk Cup is a successful international youth tournament held annually in Northern Ireland, in which clubs and national teams from anywhere in the world may compete. Northern Ireland also played host to the 2005
UEFA Under-19 European Championships.
The
Setanta Sports Cup was set up by its sponsors, television channel
Setanta Ireland. It was an all-island tournament (two groups of four, then semis and final) featuring eight teams, four being from the League of Ireland and four from the Irish League. Despite fairly low turnouts for each jurisdiction's leagues, the Setanta Cup drew relatively successful gate receipts and in its existence had two winners from Northern Ireland (
Linfield in 2005 and
Crusaders in 2012).
National team
The
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in men's international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland ...
is one of the oldest international teams in the world, it was founded in 1880. It originally played as the
Ireland national team until 1950 with players selected from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and competed in the
British Home Championship which it won eight times. Northern Ireland joined
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
in 1911, and
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
in 1954.
The team enjoyed a period of success in the early and mid-80s in which it qualified for two World Cups, most notably in the 1982 tournament in which it topped Group 5 above Spain, Yugoslavia and Honduras to proceed to the second round. After a poor run of form in the late 1990s and first few years of the 21st century, and a corresponding slump in the
FIFA World Rankings, there was a subsequent revival in the team's fortunes with home wins over
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The team came close to qualifying for the
2008 European Championships, and took part in the
Nations Cup competition in 2011 along with
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
. Northern Ireland qualified for
UEFA Euro 2016, progressing through the group stage and reaching the
round of 16. In 2018, the national team began their
UEFA Nations League debut, in league B.
Men's team home matches draw significantly higher attendances than those of the NIFL Premiership. Attendances at
Windsor Park
The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...
home matches have consistently been in the
14,000-18,000 range in the time period between
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
restrictions were lifted and November 2023.
Problems
Sectarian tensions have long been a cause of conflict at football matches in Northern Ireland,
and crowd trouble marred games throughout the twentieth century.
In 1949, Belfast Celtic withdrew from the Irish League after years of sectarian crowd problems culminated in a Boxing Day match against
Linfield at
Windsor Park
The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...
which ended in a pitch invasion and riot in which
Belfast Celtic's Protestant centre forward,
Jimmy Jones, suffered a broken leg.
Since 1968, Cronin argues that the sport has failed to include the Catholic community with Catholic clubs being either forced out of existence or transferring their allegiance to the FAI.
Hooliganism and sectarianism have remained problems throughout
the Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
and up to the present day. Northern Ireland football grounds have been described as "useful sites of public displays of political affiliation", and internal divisions between groups involved in political violence in the mid-1990s was reflected in the supporters of various clubs. Incidents of violence include trouble after Linfield player Conor Hagan was struck by a rocket fired from the crowd, and disturbances between Linfield and Glentoran fans at the 2008 Boxing Day match between the two clubs.
In addition to problems in domestic football, the Northern Ireland international team has also suffered from sectarian problems. In 2002
Celtic player
Neil Lennon announced that he would no longer play for Northern Ireland because he received a death threat,
and death threats appeared on the walls of loyalist areas including in his home town of
Lurgan,
County Armagh
County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
.
Bibliography
*Roberts, Benjamin. ''Gunshots & Goalposts: The Story of Northern Irish Football''.
*Marshall, Evan. ''Spirit of '58: The Incredible Untold Story of Northern Ireland's Greatest Football Team''.
*Marshall, Evan. ''Fields of Wonder: The Incredible Story of Northern Ireland’s Journey to the 1982 World Cup''.
References
See also
*
Football in the United Kingdom
*
List of association football competitions
*
Gaelic football
Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
*
Association football in the Republic of Ireland
*
Sport in Ireland
*
Sport in Northern Ireland
{{Football in Europe