The Irish American Football Association (IAFA) has been awarded conditional recognition by Sport Northern Ireland (SportNI). This means that the IAFA is now officially recognised as the National Governing Body for American football for the entire island of Ireland (the IAFA has been officially recognised by the Irish Sports Council since 2004).
American football in Ireland has always been organised on an inclusive cross border, cross community basis. IAFA membership in each jurisdiction is roughly pro-rata to the population in each. The recongition by SportNI, which was achieved with the full consent of the British American Football Association (BAFA), means that the IAFA’s has NGB status over the full geographic area in which it operates and has members.
Clubs based in Northern Ireland will now be able to apply to SportNI under the Places for Sport and Awards for Sport Programmes. Full recognition is expected to be confirmed in the near future following the adoptation by the IAFA of a SportNI policy recommendation at its recent AGM on 27th February.