Brentford Penguins FC

This information was added on 15/09/2022 and last updated on: 19/04/2023

Brentford Penguins FC is a football club for young people with Down’s syndrome in the Ealing area run by ex-Brentford football player Allan Cockram. It was created in 2017 to develop social skills, confidence and physical ability whilst learning through the medium of football. We provide a professional football club experience for the players in a unique and fun environment through innovative weekly coaching.

Being a competitive team is NOT what the Penguins is about. Instead, we focus on well-being and health as a priority. There are many football clubs who only accept players who have the ability to play a competitive football game but the Brentford Penguins accepts children with ALL abilities from the ages of 5-18. This makes us very unique.

Our coaching sessions allow the children of a minority to meet together and make friends who are like them. A lot of children with Down’s syndrome struggle to socialise and our coaching sessions allow a safe and non-judgmental environment to expertise and learn to interact.

Our sessions and activities are open not only to players with Down’s syndrome but all their parents/guardians and siblings also join in. This has had a massive impact on the family as a whole, giving them an opportunity to have something to do together and strengthen their relationships.

We run our weekly sessions in Gunnersbury Park, Ealing and not only do we attract players from the local community, we also have people regularly attend our sessions from as far away as Dunstable in Bedfordshire and Camberley in Surrey. The region of Ealing to Reading has a lack of quality provision for football coaching to young people with Down’s syndrome so this is why our club is so important to our community.