Girls with learning disabilities and ‘football on the brain’

In this article, we explore the footballing experiences of girls with learning disabilities. We situate our article within an after‐school football initiative that sought to forge a partnership between Bryant Park Special School and Liberty High Specialist Sports College, both based in different suburbs within one city in the north of England. We ask the following question: How are after‐school football initiatives, designed to enhance football opportunities and links between special and mainstream schools, being experienced by a range of stakeholders? In seeking to explore this question, we offer a series of critical non‐fiction narratives that capture the different ways in which a number of girls with learning disabilities, a male football coach and the male head teacher of a special school experience the realities of the football initiative. These tales illustrate not only the practical challenges of attempting to enhance football opportunities but also the theoretical challenges of exploring intersect...