The Internet Football Association (also known as the IFA) is an organisation which runs football competitions for supporters' teams across the United Kingdom. Its flagship competition is the IFA League, and the highlight of the IFA calendar is WorldNET. The motto of the IFA is "Internet football is not about winning, it's about building bridges between rival groups of football supporters."

Origins of the IFA

In the early nineties many supporters, particularly ex-pats, kept in touch with other fans via email. Those people tended to mainly be in technical or academic professions where email was widely available. The first ever internet organised football match was held in Nottingham on 30 July 1995 between Leeds Lards and Internet Hotspurs. Leeds won the match 6-3.

WorldNET

History

The IFA's annual tournament, WorldNET, traces its roots back to 1996. In the build up to UEFA Euro 96, there had been concerns over whether English football fans would be able to behave themselves. Dave "Voice of Football" Walmsley wanted to show that football fans could come together in the spirit of the game, play football and build bridges between their respective teams. Through the use of email discussion groups, Dave organised a sixteen-team tournament to be held on 9 June 1996 in Nottingham, and EuroNET 96 was born. From that point it grew to represent the teams of message boards and email discussion groups across the UK. Dave Walmsley stood down after EuroNET 96 and the organisation was taken on by John Boocock and Roger Goodair. In 1999 it was renamed WorldNET to better represent the world-wide interest the tournament now had.

WorldNET Today

In the time since then, WorldNET has become even bigger. 2008 saw the introduction of a Veterans' tournament. With 64 teams in the main tournament and 16 in the veterans, there were a record 80 teams competing at WorldNET 2009.

WorldNET was held at Bodington Hall, University of Leeds between 2000 and 2012.IFA WorldNET In 2013, the Veterans' tournament remained in Leeds whilst the main tournament was held at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston. WorldNET attracts teams from all over Europe and some from even further afield, with previous entrants including supporters of Inter Milan, RC Lens, St. Pauli and even an Arsenal supporters' team from Nigeria.

The WorldNET tournament is played over a summer weekend. The tournament is preceded on the Friday by the IFA Challenge Cup Final and an England vs Scotland friendly. The tournament begins with the group stages on the Saturday. There are 4 teams in each group who play each other once. Games are 30 minutes long (15 minutes each half). All teams return on the Sunday for the knock-out stages, with the top two teams from each group competing in the main tournament (called the WorldNET Cup) to determine the overall winner. The bottom two teams from each group compete for the WorldNET Plate.

WorldNET has been supported by The Football Supporters' Federation since 2009, and they provided a free programme for all participants and spectators.

Past winners

Year WorldNET Winners WorldNET Runners-up Plate Winners Plate Runners-up Veterans Winners Veterans Runners-up 1996 Middlesbrough QPR 1997 Bradford City Birmingham 1998 QPR 1999 Arsenal 2000 Middlesbrough Arsenal 2001 Middlesbrough Dumbarton Arsenal 2002 Charlton Athletic Bradford City Aberdeen Motherwell 2003 Celtic Inter Milan Portsmouth Brentford 2004 Dumbarton Stockport Stockport Inter Milan 2005 Rotherham United QPR Scunthorpe Inter Milan 2006 Celtic Dumbarton QPR Doncaster 2007 RC Lens Leicester Darlington 2008 Preston North End Watford A QPR Arsenal Nigeria Arsenal Nigeria Birmingham 2009 West Bromwich Albion Bradford City Welling United York City Bury Leicester City 2010 Bradford City RC Lens QPR Leicester City AFC Halifax Arsenal Nigeria 2011 RC Lens Bradford City Portsmouth Darlington Bury AFC Halifax 2012 Crystal Palace RC Lens Darlington Bradford City AFC Halifax Everton 2013 AFC Halifax Crystal Palace Manchester United Darlington Bradford City AFC Halifax 2014 AFC Halifax Preston North End Runcorn Linnets Port Vale

The IFA League

The IFA league has an unusual structure, where instead of a set fixture list with teams playing each other a set number of times, it is up to the teams themselves to organise fixtures. This means that some teams play more games than others, but each team is limited to playing a maximum of twenty games. Even when they lose, teams are rewarded for making the effort to turn up and play fixtures, with one league point being awarded for a defeat, two points for a draw and three for a win.

The ideal of the IFA is that two supporters teams will get together and play each other on a Saturday morning, before attending the match between the two teams they support in the afternoon. IFA fixtures are often arranged so as to coincide with meetings of the teams they support, however it does not always work out this way.

The main IFA league consists of around eighty teams, and is not split into separate divisions. However, there is a Scottish league. Scottish teams tend to compete in both leagues, with their fixtures counting towards both competitions. Scottish teams regularly do well in matches against their English counterparts, with Celtic having won WorldNET twice, and Hibs having won the IFA Cup three times, and in 2011 Motherwell became the first Scottish team ever to win the IFA league.

Every year, each team is invited to vote for the Team of the Year award, granted to the team that has played the game in the best spirit, closest to the ethos of the IFA.

Below is a table of past winners of the IFA league, along with the Scottish League Champions and the Team of the Year. Year IFA League Champions Scottish League Champions Team of the Year 1998 QPR Watford 1999 QPR Not awarded 2000 Arsenal Huddersfield Town 2001 QPR Brentford 2002 QPR Hibs Hull City 2003 Millwall Hearts Grimsby Town 2004 Fulham Ayr United Tranmere Rovers 2005 Millwall Aberdeen Watford 2006 Rotherham United Hearts Preston North End 2007 Preston North End Falkirk Preston North End 2008 Rochdale Stirling Albion Watford 2009 Preston North End Ayr United West Ham United 2010 Preston North End Ayr United Kidderminster Harriers 2011 Motherwell Motherwell Ipswich Town 2012 Preston North End Ayr United Watford 2013 Livingston GS Livingston GS AFC Chorley 2014 Preston North End Livingston GS West Ham United

The IFA Challenge Cup

Every year, the IFA Challenge Cup is contested by IFA member teams from across the UK alongside regular IFA League games. The final of this competition is played on the Friday evening of WorldNET. Below is a list of past winners of this competition.

YearWinnersRunners-up 2000 Celtic 2001 Hibs 2002 QPR Watford 2003 HibsCharlton Athletic 2004 Ayr United Millwall 2005 Fulham Ayr United 2006 Preston North End Nottingham Forest 2007 Hibs Bury 2008 Bury A Rochdale 2009 Preston North End West Bromwich Albion 2010 Preston North End West Bromwich Albion 2011 Preston North End Kidderminster 2012 Kidderminster Ayr United 2013 Preston North End Hearts 2014 Livingston GS Preston North End

References

External links Internet Football Association WorldNET Scottish IFA League on KaisAyr site