The Northern Ireland Women's Football Association (NIWFA) is the governing body of women's association football in

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 was founded in 1977.

History

Prior to 1977, there was no organizing body for women's football in Northern Ireland. Following the case of 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 Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

forming the

Women's Football Association of Ireland Football Association of Ireland, Women's (FAI Women's) (formerly the Women's Football Association of Ireland) is the governing body for women's association football in the Republic of Ireland. It is responsible for organising the Republic of Ir ...

. The Women's football association of Ireland catered to 6,500 who played for 350 teams. The NIWFA was founded in 1977 to be the governing body in Northern Ireland. Prior to official foundation, the inaugural meeting was held in 1976 to form a national league to be played in the summer with 35 minutes each half. The league initially was formed of 18 NIWFA associated teams, however this number later rose to 50. In 1993, the NIWFA became affiliated with the men's

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. ...

(IFA) but retained sole control of women's football in Northern Ireland. In 1998, the NIWFA became fully integrated with the IFA with the IFA becoming responsible for development of women's football in Northern Ireland while the NIWFA retained its separate identity. Since 2001 the NIWFA has had a representative on the IFA Council. This agreement also allowed the NIWFA to continue playing their league matches on Sundays instead of joining the IFA who had banned Sunday football until 2008.

Competitions

The NIWFA is responsible for the running of women's competitions in Northern Ireland. They run the Women's Premier League and the

IFA Women's Challenge Cup ''For the equivalent tournament in the Republic of Ireland, see FAI Women's Cup.'' The IFA Women's Challenge Cup or Irish Women's Cup is the annual cup competition of women's football teams in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuai ...

as the major competitions. The NIWFA has the authority to discipline and fine clubs as well as the authority to remove them from competition if clubs fail to fulfill fixtures or lack the sufficient number of players. Both were factors in the NIWFA ejecting and banning Fermanagh Mallards F.C. from the Women's Premier League in 2013.

References

External links

Official site
{{portalbar, Northern Ireland, women's association football Women's association football in Northern Ireland Association football governing bodies in Northern Ireland Women's sports governing bodies in Northern Ireland Sports organizations established in 1977 1977 establishments in Northern Ireland