Sunday football in Northern Ireland

Discouragement of recreation on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, was a feature of the Puritan Sabbatarianism of the 17th century, which influenced the Sunday Observance Act 1695 passed by the Parliament of Ireland, which made it illegal to take part in sports, stating, "by reason of tumultuous and disorderly meetings, which have been, and frequently are used on the Lord's-day, commonly called Sunday, under pretence of hurling, commoning, football-playing, cudgels, wrestling, or other sports".

[4] In 1898, the Leinster Football Association requested permission for matches on Sunday, which was unanimously rejected by the IFA as "very detrimental to the interests of the game".

The independent Northern Ireland Women's Football Association (NIWFA) played their matches on Sundays.

This included the Northern Ireland national team who also refused to play international matches on Sunday.

In 2001, Cliftonville attempted to play a friendly match against Derry City, who are based in County Londonderry but are affiliated with the FAI, on a Sunday.

[11] The ban was also identified as causing problems for ethnic minority players; the Chinese Football Association Northern Ireland, whose players mostly work in the catering industry, noted that its members often had "no choice" but to play on Sundays and pointed out the ban interfered with outreach efforts.

[12] Towards the start of the 21st century, several clubs made moves to abolish the ban on Sunday football in Northern Ireland.

In 2000 Newry Town put forward a motion to play football on Sunday on commercial grounds.

[16] Howard Wells, the IFA chief executive, took legal advice after it was suggested that the ban on Sunday football might not be supported in the European Court of Human Rights if a lawsuit was brought against them.

[17] After the failure of the 2006 motion, the predicted legal challenge, supported by the Equality Commission, emerged on the grounds of religious discrimination.

Before the match there was a protest against it by members of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster led by Reverend David McIlveen.

The IFA were informed this might mean matches on Sunday and they signed an agreement prior to the draw for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.

Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, questioned the choice of date; the IFA replied that they had no control over it but accepted that some fans might boycott the match because it was on a Sunday.