Autistic FC plays its first season in the Brentwood major league

“As a group of young adults, they are breaking down a lot of the stigmas and boundaries that have been put in front of them over the years, which is very inspiring to see,” Mr. Franklyn said.

He said the club, also known as AFC United, was two players short of a full squad when it was founded, but now has almost 90 players on the books.

“This shows how much our football club is needed,” he continued.

“A lot of them have been told ‘you can come to training but we don’t want you to play on our team’ and that’s not good enough.”

Mr Franklyn said many shouting and “sensory issues” in mainstream football needed to be “examined”.

“We empower these kids to be themselves, and being themselves is the greatest thing they can do.”

Although the team has not yet been able to bring home victory, the president said that the team has improved a lot.

Mr Franklyn said he thought parents would “explode” with joy when the team scored its first goal.