On the Ball: fan perspectives of a campaign to improve Scottish female football fans’ experiences of menstruation at football matches

In March 2018 a football-fan-led campaign - On the Ball (OTB)- headed by three Scottish football fans, set out to advocate for free and accessible period products in football stadiums. This paper explores female Scottish football fans’ experiences of menstruation at football games and examines the significance of OTB for female football fans’ match day experience. Through online video-call semi-structured interviews with 11 female Scottish football fans and 1 OTB founder, this paper suggests that Scottish football paradoxically both leads and lags in supporting menstrual justice for women. Whilst OTB improved female football fans’ match day experience by providing free period products that reduced worries of leaking menstrual blood onto their clothing, and initiating discussion of menstruation, football clubs did not engage in broader structural changes to fully enable dignified, hygienic, menstruation at football matches.