No longer can Northern Ireland football's governing body claim to be the only association in the civilised world that bans its members from playing the game on a Sunday.

The old rule was, frankly, an embarrassment, the metaphorical elephant in the room that grew every year as the rest of Europe - and, of course, this wee province itself - became progressively cosmopolitan.

There simply was no room any more for legislation which was overtly racist, sectarian, anachronisic - and hypocritical.

Never on a Sunday? Try telling that to the Northern Ireland internationals who frequently turned out for their club sides on the Sabbath.

When David Healy set a new goalscoring record for his country, in a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, it was on a Sunday.

When Northern Ireland's memorable adventure in the 1982 World Cup in Spain came to an end against a terrific French team, it was on a Sunday.

And the only member of the squad who refused to be considered that day because of his religious beliefs - Glentoran winger Johnny Jameson - was never chosen for Northern Ireland again.

No, you couldn't make it up.

Thing is, the IFA were well aware of what a drawback this rule, laid down by well-meaning, God-fearing Ulster Protestants in smoky committee rooms sixty-odd years ago, had become.

Believe it or not, the Association has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade and has never been administered better.

They have made fantastic strides towards ridding Northern Ireland football of its old sectarian image and the Green and White Army are now, rightly, regarded as among Europe's most respected fans.

But the IFA's "never on a Sunday" policy jarred with all that, so good riddance.

By the way, I'm not going to get into a religious argument about this; my focus is on freedom of choice, not fundamentalism.

I think you'll find though that, within a couple of years, people will be wondering what all the fuss was about in the first place.

Nothing up at Windsor Avenue is ever straightforward, of course - and, instead of basking in the positive publicity over consigning the Sunday rule to history, the IFA found itself caught up in further controversy after the EGM, courtesy of its decision not to trim its executive board from a rather top-heavy 18 to a more slimline 10.

That development could well cost the Association several million pounds, which may now be withheld by a Government DCAL department yet to be convinced the money would be spent effectively by a governing body seemingly reluctant to embrace its ideas on the way forward.

But maybe the suits up there decided the timing wasn't right.

When it was first proposed that the public purse would provide local football with an £8m injection - around half of which has already been donated and, in the main, effectively used - Northern Ireland football was in the doldrums.

The non-winning, non-scoring national team was the laughing stock of European football while the domestic game was plagued by poor facilities, plunging gates and image problems.

There's still lots of be done with the Irish League - but at international level things are definitely looking up.

A £10m contract with Sky Sports is in the bag and, for the first time in over 20 years, Northern Ireland has a squad of players capable of qualifying for a major - and lucrative - football tournament.

Okay, they lost out in the Euro 2008 qualifiers - but when was the last time our wee country went into the final game of a qualifying series with a chance of actually making it to the following year's finals?

So perhaps those IFA blazers have decided they aren't as desperate for the government money as they might have been, say, three years ago and that there's an alternative gravy train to ride.

None of this, however, cuts any ice with chief executive Howard Wells who, after last Wednesday's vote, questioned whether the Association is really serious about running football in this country.

They are, of course - but what happened last week proves that, when it comes to sheer dogmatism, the good old Irish Football Association remains in a league of its own.