"Off with their headscarves, on with their football kits?": Unveiling myths and exploring the identities of british-muslim female footballers

This chapter offers an original insight into the identities and experiences of British-Muslim females in particular. It addresses how young women accommodate, negotiate and challenge discourses and structural constraints in and through their participation in football. The chapter attempts to link British-Muslim females experiences to wider relations of power and the unequal distribution of resources/knowledge about football to issues related to team subcultures and individual experiences of the sport, as well as the cultural values and norms associated with the spaces of women's football. Muslim women have, and are strongly developing, their own narratives and practices to legitimise their rights in general and specifically in relation to football. Their personal and political persuasions emerge in relation to their views about multicultural politics in England and their critical association to feminist politics. Players reframe discourses about femininity to their own advantage and in addition some players re-work religious discourses and interpretations of the Koran to empower their involvement in sport.