The honeymoon: a time when newlyweds embark on a romantic retreat to celebrate their love, recent union and the beginning of two lives coming together. It’s probably one of the last places that would spring to mind as a likely catalyst for the birth of a national football team.

But it was on honeymoon in Scotland in 1878 that John ‘Mac’ McAlery, the Irish Football Association’s first captain, coined the idea of bringing organised football to the island of Ireland. Inspired by the beautiful game after witnessing his first match while in Edinburgh, the forward-thinking McAlery began to lay the foundations of football in the Emerald Isle, first by inviting established Scottish sides Caledonians and Queen’s Park to play an exhibition match in Belfast.

Given how well the game was received among the Belfast locals, it was evident that football in Ireland had come to stay – and McAlery’s next move was to establish the country’s own working infrastructure. A cricketer with Cliftonville Cricket Club, McAlery soon founded Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club, Ireland’s oldest football side, while also being the driving force behind establishing the country’s domestic cup.

On 18 November 1880, the Irish Football Association was formed at the Queen’s Hotel, Belfast, with McAlery acting as the organisation’s honorary secretary, where the country’s official footballing rules and regulations were drawn up. In the appendix of the historic meeting’s first minutes, McAlery wrote: “If the spirit which pervaded those present be acted upon the result will be a strong Association for promoting the game which we have espoused.”

Historic international ends in tears With a local infrastructure in place, it seemed only natural that international football would follow, and out of the three already-established football associations across the Irish Sea, it was England who were selected as Ireland’s first opponents. An accomplished cricketer – and now a footballer with Cliftonville FC – McAlery assumed the captaincy of Ireland during their first-ever international on 18 February 1882, slotting in at right-back.

The conditions were typical of February in Belfast, with The Times reporting how the weather was: “bitterly cold” with “a gale blowing, accompanied at times by showers of rain and hail.” A landmark day for Irish football – and McAlery – soon turned into humiliation, however, when the hosts suffered an embarrassing 13-0 defeat at the hands of their far more experienced opponents.

The Glasgow Herald reported how: “It was fully anticipated that Ireland would be beaten, although it was not believed that England would win in such an easy manner as 13 goals to nil.” The Sportsman newspaper was more sympathetic to the Irish, stating: “The Irishmen must not be discouraged with the result, and no doubt they will in time be able to better equalise matters, it is however, a pity that a more moderate team had not been sent from England for the first meeting.”

To this day, the result remains England’s biggest victory, and the Irish Football Association’s heaviest defeat.

After the whitewash, a devastated McAlery was reported to have broken down in tears in the dressing room. While he had worked tirelessly to get football off the ground in Ireland, it was evident that much work still had to be done in order to compete on the same level with the Home Nations across the Irish Sea.

McAlery would go on to captain Ireland one final time in their next international, against Wales in Wrexham, where they would suffer another defeat; this time falling to a 7-1 loss. It would be his final outing in international football.

Deciding to concentrate his efforts on off-field matters, McAlery remained an integral part of Irish football, holding the position of the Irish Football Association’s secretary until 1888 while also acting as an international referee.

His Ireland career may have been short-lived, making only two international appearances, but McAlery was more than his country’s first captain. He was the moving spirit that helped bring the game to the country. Football in Ireland may have blossomed much later if it wasn’t for the man who first fell in love with the beautiful game while on honeymoon in 1878.