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Western Football Association

The Western Football Association (WFA) was a governing body for soccerinSouthern Ontario, Canada, and is often viewed as a precursor organization to the current Canadian Soccer Association. The organization was responsible for facilitating club play in Southern Ontario, and would also send teams to compete internationally, such as Galt F.C.'s participation at the 1904 Summer Olympics.

History[edit]

Founded as the Western Football Association of Ontario, the association would grant membership to any amateur association rules football club west of Toronto.^[1] Immediately after its founding, the Western Football Association organized the WFA Challenge Cup, where member clubs would compete for the regional championship between 1880 and 1930. Following the dissolution of Toronto's Dominion Football Association in 1881, the WFA became the dominant soccer organization in Canada, and acted as Canada's national soccer association before the formation of the proper Dominion of Canada Football Association (Canada Soccer) in 1912. Because of this status, the WFA created the first ever Canadian national team to represent the country internationally in 1885, where they would go on to play against the United States in the first ever international match outside of the United Kingdom.^[a] The WFA would also send their national team on tours in 1888 and 1891 to play friendly matches against various soccer clubs in England, Ireland, and Scotland. In 1904, the WFA was invited to send one of their member clubs to the 1904 Summer Olympics soccer tournamentinSt. Louis, where they chose to send eventual gold medalists Galt F.C. to compete with two other clubs from the United States. The Western Soccer Association eventually folded in 1940, and although the reason or reasons behind its dissolution are not entirely clear, it was likely a mix of financial issues, as well as its increased insignificance compared to the Dominion of Canada Football Association and Ontario Soccer Association.^[1]

WFA Challenge Cup[edit]

List of champions:^[2]

International competitions[edit]

Year(s)	Competition	Location	Team sent	score	Opponent(s)	Result
1885	Friendly	Newark, New Jersey	WFA team	1–0	United States (AFA)	—
1886	Friendly	Newark, New Jersey	WFA team	2–3	United States (AFA)	—
1888	Great Britain Tour	British Isles	WFA team	23 matches (details)		—
1891	Great Britain Tour	British Isles	WFA/AFA team	58 matches (details)		—
1892
1904	Summer Olympics	St. Louis, Missouri	Galt F.C.	7–0	Christian Brothers College	Gold Medalists
				4–0	Saint Rose Parish
1905	Friendly	Hamilton, Ontario	Hamilton/Dundas	2–8	Pilgrims[b]	—
		Niagara Falls, Ontario	Niagara Falls	0–5
		Berlin, Ontario	Berlin Rangers	2–1
	"The Championship of the World"	Galt, Ontario	Galt F.C.	3–3

Notable staff[edit]

Notable players[edit]

References[edit]