Northern Ireland Women v England (12/04/2021)

WORDS : HELENA BYRNE

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN… Women’s football on the island of Ireland has a long history. The first report of a women’s match was in 1895 when the British Ladies, who were on tour at the time, played a match in Belfast.

The following year the British Ladies undertook a more extensive tour of Ireland – and it is only a few years after these tours that we start to see match reports featuring local teams appearing in daily and weekly newspapers. Clubs in Northern Ireland have always had close relationships with teams in Britain and further afield. In 1920 GB-based Dick Kerr Ladies visited Belfast and in 1925 they returned to play a match against Fémina Sport from France. In 1960 the Manchester Corinthians stopped off in Northern Ireland to play a few matches on their way home from a tour of South America. The Women’s Football Association (WFA) was formed in 1969 to govern women’s football . Individual clubs from the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and even a club from Nigeria affiliated to the WFA - because this was the only governing body in the region. And from 1972 clubs affiliated to the WFA began to establish governing bodies for their own jurisdictions.

In late 1972 the Northern Ireland Ladies Football Association (NILFA) submitted their terms of reference to the WFA and became an affiliated member. Initially NILFA, which evolved into the NIWFA (Northern Ireland Women’s Football Association) , would have looked after the Northern Ireland women’s international team but then the Irish Football Association took over responsibility for the team. To date Northern Ireland have played against England approximately nine times. Unfortunately they have lost every game so far. The first match between the two sides took place on 7 September 1973 at Twerton Park, the home of Bath City FC. It was Northern Ireland’s second official international game (the first was against Republic of Ireland away) following the formation of NILFA.

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NIR V ENG