Northern Ireland Women's Football Association
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The Northern Ireland Women's Football Association (NIWFA) is the governing body of women's association 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 ...
. It was founded in 1977.


History

Prior to 1977, there was no organizing body for
women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...
in Northern Ireland. Following the case of 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. ...
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 Ireland. It is responsible for organising the Republic of Ireland women's nat ...
. 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 (1882–1950), Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became t ...
(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 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. Fermanagh Mallards Football Club is a women's association football club based in Ballinamallard, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. They play their home matches at Ballinamallard United F.C.'s Ferney Park. The club was founded in 2005 and i ...
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