The Irish Universities Football Union is the governing body for university

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is responsible for organizing the

Collingwood Cup The Collingwood Cup is an association football cup competition featuring university teams from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is organised by the Irish Universities Football Union, and is the oldest surviving all Ireland associ ...

, the major cup competition for Irish universities. It also manages the only two

all Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

association football leagues – the College & Universities Football League and the Women's Soccer Colleges Association of Ireland League. It is affiliated to the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

–based Football Association of Ireland and works closely with both the College Football Association of Ireland (CFAI) and the

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

–based

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

. The IUFU also selects the teams that represent Ireland at the

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

History

Early years

The IUFU was originally formed in 1970–71 as the ''Universities and Colleges Football Union'' under the leadership of Dr. Tony O'Neill, the club secretary/manager of

University College Dublin A.F.C. University College Dublin Association Football Club ( ga, Cumann Sacar Choláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath), known commonly as UCD, is the football team of University College Dublin. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. F ...

and an FAI general secretary. In 1972 a separate association, the CFAI, was established for college teams. The IUFU initially took over the organization of the

before introducing new competitions such as the

Collingwood Plate The Collingwood Cup is an association football cup competition featuring university teams from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is organised by the Irish Universities Football Union, and is the oldest surviving all Ireland associ ...

, the North–South University League, the Harding Cup for freshman and first year students and the Crowley Cup for

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

players. In 2006–07 the IUFU, in conjunction with the CFAI, established the

Umbro Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 100 c ...

sponsored Colleges and Universities Football League.

Ulster University dispute

In 2015 the IUFU became involved in an internal dispute involving

Ulster University sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

and their campus football teams. On Sunday, 22 February 2015, UU Jordanstown were due to play UCD in the first round of the

. However, on Friday, 19 February, just two days earlier, the IUFU barred them from the competition. UUJ were banned because they planned to field players from

Magee College The Ulster University Magee campus is one of the four campuses of Ulster University. It is located in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and opened in 1865 as a Presbyterian Christian arts and Seminary, theological college. Since 1953, i ...

in the team. Ulster University wanted to enter a single team featuring players from three campuses –

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

Jordanstown Jordanstown ( ga, Baile Mhic Shiúrtáin) is a townland (of 964 acres) and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the urban area of Newtownabbey and the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is also situated i ...

and Magee. However football officials at Coleraine opposed this idea and entered the Collingwood Cup under their own name. Meanwhile, UU decided to enter the tournament as Jordanstown, while Magee opted not to enter the competition. With the Magee club not involved, UU decided to enter a joint team that included players from both Jordanstown and Magee. However, they were informed by IUFU that it was against Collingwood Cup rules to select players from more than one campus. As UU refused to comply with the IUFU requests and enter a team that only consisted of players from the Jordanstown campus, the IUFU opted to expel them from the competition. Meanwhile, the team representing Coleraine competed in the tournament, however according to club officials, they did not receive any funding from their Ulster University, who do not recognise them as an official university team.

Representative Games

The IUFU selects teams to play against teams representing the CFAI and

Irish Defence Forces The Defence Forces ( ga, Fórsaí Cosanta, officially styled ) derives its origins from the Irish Volunteers. Whilst the Irish for ''Defence Forces'' is , as Ó Cearúil (1999) points out, the Defence Forces are officially styled . is used in ...

. The IUFU also chooses a team to represent Ireland at the

Cup competitions

– senior first team competition ** Farquhar Cup – defeated Collingwood Cup quarter finalists ** Spillane Cup – teams knocked out in Collingwood Cup first round ** Duggan Cup – teams knocked out in Collingwood Cup first round * Crowley Cup – features the reserve university teams * Harding Cup – teams are made up first year students

Affiliated Leagues

* College & Universities Football League * Women's Soccer Colleges Association of Ireland League

Affiliated universities/clubs

Several clubs affiliated to the IUFU play in leagues and divisions within the

and

Northern Ireland football league system The Northern Ireland football league system is categorised into three levels: senior, intermediate and junior. Clubs attain intermediate status by fulfilling certain criteria (e.g. owning or leasing its own enclosed ground). Senior status requires ...

s. ''Collingwood 2014 Part I''
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References

{{Football in Republic of Ireland

Universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

All-island sports governing bodies in Ireland 1970s establishments in Ireland