da 888： The England & Man Utd star became the second women's footballer to win SPOTY after helping the Lionesses reach the Women's World Cup final
da heads bet： It was in Sunderland, during England’s first game back on home soil after their historic run to the Women’s World Cup final in Australia, that Mary Earps first heard it. She’d just made a fairly comfortable save and, with 85 minutes on the clock, was taking her time to restart the game as the Lionesses hung on for a 2-1 win over Scotland. Her prolonged possession didn’t just give her team some respite, though. It also gave the crowd the chance to serenade their star goalkeeper, who has spent the last two years capturing the hearts of a nation.
‘Mary, Mary, Mary’ rang out around the Stadium of Light as Earps launched the ball up the pitch, continuing even as her kick was contested in Scotland’s defensive third. It was the sort of adoration often reserved for the local heroes that return home with their national team – but Nottingham-born Earps has heard this in grounds up and down the country over the last few months.
"I was a bit confused because I didn’t know what the crowd was shouting,” she told last month. “It’s something I’d never experienced. You’re trying not to get distracted from the task at hand because, as much as I want to sit here and be like, ‘Yeah, a game’s a game, you don’t really care,’ you do. It feels so special. It’s like a tingly feeling. I’d love it if I could bottle that feeling. It’s like you’re connected to people.”
Earps’ status as a cult hero has only grown in the months since. Whether it’s her highly-anticipated goalkeeper shirts selling out in minutes, the Nottingham tram that has been named after her or an honorary doctorate from Loughborough University, the 30-year-old has been showered with admiration by the public.
The only thing that can compare is the prolific manner in which she has been recognised with individual awards. Earps has been crowned BBC Women's Footballer of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year at the British Sports Journalism Awards and England Women's Player of the Year, to list just a few, since the World Cup. Earps’ fifth-placed finish in the Ballon d’Or voting was the best ever for a goalkeeper on the women’s side and she’s a nominee for The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper award again, too.
On Tuesday night, her latest achievement combined these two facets when she was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. SPOTY is an prestigious accolade that has been a highlight of the award season in the United Kingdom for almost 70 years – and Earps is just the seventh footballer to win it, joining Bobby Moore, Paul Gascoigne, Michael Owen, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and, only last year, Lionesses team-mate Beth Mead.
In 2021, after falling out of the picture completely, Earps admitted that playing for England again wasn’t at the forefront of her thinking. In 2023, she helped guide her country to a first football World Cup final since 1966 and has just closed out the year by winning perhaps the most coveted individual prize in British sport. Her rise from outcast to icon has been incredible.
GettyA complete turnaround
When Sarina Wiegman took over as England head coach, Earps hadn’t been involved for her country for almost two years. The Manchester United shot-stopper was between the sticks when England faced Germany at Wembley in November 2019 in front of 77,768 people, a then-record crowd for a Lionesses home international fixture. But she didn’t play in the second friendly of that window a few days later and when Phil Neville selected his squad for the SheBelieves Cup in February 2020, Earps wasn’t included. She’d never play for him again.
When Hege Riise, the legendary Norway midfielder, came in for a stop-gap spell between Neville’s departure and Wiegman’s arrival, she didn’t change too much about the squad and so, for her eight-month stint, Earps remained out of the picture.
It wasn’t until Wiegman took over in September 2021 that things changed. The Dutchwoman made Earps No.1 for her first game in charge and neither has looked back since, with the 30-year-old starting 39 of the 45 matches in Wiegman’s tenure to date.
Trusted wholeheartedly by the Lionesses boss, Earps has ascended to new heights over the course of the last two years, helping England to win a home European Championships and reach a World Cup final while picking up individual accolade after individual accolade.
AdvertisementGettyWiegman's 'wake-up call'
Earps was always a good goalkeeper. She would regularly catch the eye with her shot-stopping in the Women’s Super League, in spells with Doncaster Rovers Belles, Birmingham City, Bristol Academy and Reading, so much so that two-time European champions Wolfsburg snapped her up in 2018.
But what has changed under Wiegman’s stewardship to make her one of the best in the world? Well, in the coach’s book, , the goalkeeper contributed a passage that offers a glimpse at the answer.
“When I first had a conversation with Sarina, I had serious doubts about whether I wanted to continue playing football,” Earps said. “I felt like my glory days were in the past and I’d lost my ambition. What struck me the most was Sarina’s honesty and direct way of communicating. It was like a wake-up call for me.
“I realised that there was still more to achieve and that I had the capability to reach new heights. In the past I’d found it hard to trust people due to a lack of honesty in communication and this made me consider quitting football altogether. Sarina’s message to me was simple: ‘You’re Mary Earps. Just be yourself. That’s more than enough. I’ve seen what you can do.’”
GettyOne of the best in the world
That belief, when combined with Earps’ natural talent and some impressive improvements in certain areas of her game, has been crucial in her rise to the very top. The results are there for all to see. Earps was absolutely crucial to England’s performances at Euro 2022 and the 2023 Women’s World Cup, named to the team of the tournament at the former before winning the Golden Glove at the latter.
When she came up with a huge stop against Haiti in the World Cup this year, to preserve victory for the eventual finalists, team-mate Georgia Stanway simply said: “That’s why she’s FIFA’s Best.”
It’s the same at club level. It’s rare that an Earps performance goes by without her pulling out a world-class save, with her quality helping Man Utd maintain a title challenge until the final day of the Women’s Super League season back in May. Red Devils head coach Marc Skinner put it well earlier this year when he said his team will “always owe to Mary,” adding: “I suppose she doesn’t get as much credit as maybe she deserves for that because we expect it, because she's that level.”
GettyCapturing the hearts
But it’s not just the saves that have led to Earps being named Sports Personality of the Year. There has been so much more that has allowed her to win the hearts of the nation. Perhaps the most notable is the fight to get her own shirts on sale, with Nike opting not to sell the goalkeeper kits it had manufactured for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
It was something Earps spoke openly about before, during and after the tournament, with 170,000 people showing their support by signing a petition to get the shirts on sale. When they did hit the shelves after the World Cup, they sold out almost instantly. Further releases of the shirts have come since and have vanished just as rapidly. “I’m just trying to change the world [as] a bit on the side, when I’ve got time,” she told .
The little moments of Earps showing her personality off the pitch have played their part in making her a true icon of British sport, too. She went viral when she jumped on the table in Wiegman’s press conference after the Euros final and danced wildly while the whole team burst into a rendition of the famous ‘football’s coming home’ portion of ‘Three Lions’. Her TikTok account has one million followers and almost 17 million likes, a range of fun dances, silly games and a behind-the-scenes look at the life of the Lionesses’ No.1 endearing her to fans in England and beyond.
It's not just about those fun moments, either. Earps is someone who wears her heart on her sleeve, either with her animated expressions on the pitch or openness with the media. Her teary interview on the Wembley pitch earlier this month, when she apologised for letting her team ‘down’, was a prime example of her showing such emotion, that vulnerability captivating the nation as much as her talent.