ABSTRACT
For British football, international politics was often taken to mean relations with other football associations and FIFA rather than with the British government. In this regard, the four British associations, which tended to act in unison within and outside the IFAB as far as international football was concerned, experienced a somewhat fluctuating post-war relationship with FIFA. Withdrawal in 1920 and re-entry in 1924 were followed by yet another departure in 1928. In this manner, the 1920s established football’s ability to generate its own political pressures both within and between different sporting bodies, as evidenced by the competitive and cooperative features characteristic of relations between not only British football and FIFA but also clubs and football associations; the four home associations; and the latter and their foreign counterparts. Nor was British football unaffected by Olympic politics, as evidenced by exchanges between the football associations and the BOA as well as between FIFA and the IOC.
