The formation of the Football Association of Ireland

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.