in 1938, the "Irish Amateur Athletic Union" (IAAU) changed its name to "Amateur Athletic Union of Eire" (AAUE) and affiliated to the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) under the country name "Eire". In 1967, the AAUE merged with most of the rival NACA to form Bord Lúthchleas na hÉireann (BLÉ). BLÉ requested the IAAF to change the country's name to "Ireland". This finally happened in 1981. Abbreviations Under the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166 standard, the two-letter code for Ireland is "IE" while the three-letter code is "IRL". The "IE" code is the basis for the choice of ".ie" for Irish internet addresses. The IRL code features on Irish driving licences, passports and is most visible on contemporary Irish EU style vehicle registration plates. Under the Convention on International Civil Aviation Irish registered aircraft carry the nationality mark "EI", although this abbreviation has nothing to do with the state's name. For example, the ICAO gives "EG" and "EH" as the abbreviations for Belgium and the Netherlands. Alternative names A variety of alternative names are also used for the Irish state. Sometimes alternative names are chosen because the name "Ireland" could be confused with the name of the island the state shares with Northern Ireland. Other times alternative names are chosen for political reasons. "Republic of Ireland", the "description" of the state according to the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, is often used. In sport, the national football team plays as the "Republic of Ireland". This is because the Irish national football team was organised by the Irish Football Association, from 1882 to 1950. A new organisation, the Football Association of the Irish Free State was formed after partition to organize a new team to represent the newly formed Irish Free State. Over time the Irish Football Association came to be the body for organising association football in Northern Ireland only. However, both association football federations continued to field a team called "Ireland". Despite protests from both organisations, in 1953 FIFA decreed that neither team could be referred to as Ireland in competitions which both teams were eligible to enter. The two teams now play under the names "Republic of Ireland" and "Northern Ireland". "Irish Republic" is commonly used as a name for the state in Britain but disliked in the Republic, where "Irish Republic" refers to the revolutionary state of the First Dáil in 1919. The initialism "ROI", for