“Yes, everyone is blindfolded but that doesn’t make it equal”: the intersectional experiences of visually impaired women footballers in England.

Abstract

In recent years there have been concerted global efforts to develop women’s visually impaired (VI) football. However, these developments have not occurred without challenges and the players’ experiences during this significant period of progress have received no academic attention. We adopt an intra-categorical complexity approach to intersectionality to explore VI women’s experiences of becoming and being footballers. The study utilises a focus group and in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of seven women, with differing sight conditions, who have participated in VI football in England. Using abductive analysis, we examine how the players’ lived experiences have been shaped by the complex intersections of being female, disabled and, more specifically, VI. Our analysis reveals that these intersections create inequitable outcomes for footballers with various subordinate identities. The main inequities derive from the historic marginalisation of women in disability football and include the challenges of learning a new sport, players with different sight conditions adjusting to wearing blindfolds in blind football, and tensions between players brought about by the combination of B1-B3 classes. The findings reveal complex lived realities of VI women footballers, which have implications for key stakeholders tasked with growing the game in a manner that leads to more equitable outcomes for VI women.