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Allan Cockram and Louis Myles

Sports Day: Mighty Penguins

Hay Festival 2025, 

Don’t miss this screening of a documentary championed by Mark Kermode as “utterly remarkable and utterly life-affirming”. Charting the rise of a west London football club for young players with Down’s syndrome, Mighty Penguins follows coach Allan Cockram, the players of Brentford Penguins FC and their families as they prepare to be the guard of honour at a Premier League match.

A funny, illuminating film about the transformative power of sport and the many ways we can enrich each other’s lives, it has won numerous awards including the prestigious Grierson Award for best sports documentary in 2024.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Allan Cockram, a former professional footballer and founder of Brentford Penguins FC, and the documentary’s director Louis Myles.

In conversation with Josh Smith, freelance broadcast and multimedia journalist. football commentator, newsreader and radio presenter.