Football fandom, social inclusion and learning disability: opportunities and constraints

Abstract

In Britain, within the contemporary drive to use sport to tackle the isolation of socially excluded groups, football (soccer) fandom has been suggested in many policy documents as a possible site for enabling people with learning disabilities to become more socially included. Forming the basic theoretical work for my doctoral research, this paper provides a critical analysis of this so far unexamined discourse. Conclusions suggest that current policy represents a simplistic and overly romanticised view of people with learning disabilities as football fans, leaving many unanswered questions about what social inclusion targets can reasonably be met through football fandom.