How Sports Personality of the Year winner Mary Earps became a British icon

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.

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, What It Takes: My Playbook on Life and Leadership, 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.’”

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.”

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 Times.

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.

Earps’ SPOTY win is a massive nod to the rise of women’s football, too. It was only eight years ago that a women’s footballer was nominated for this prize for the first time, when Lucy Bronze landed herself on the shortlist after being one of the stars of the Lionesses’ bronze medal-winning 2015 Women’s World Cup campaign.

In that time, the sport has grown so much. In England, the WSL has become a professional league, it has secured a huge broadcast deal that puts the action on BBC’s main channels and Sky Sports every week and attendances have soared, with new records set on a regular basis.

But it’s across the globe that the women’s game is taking steps forward, too. Leagues in Spain, Italy, Mexico and beyond have also become professional. Broadcaster DAZN has played a huge role in getting the UEFA Women’s Champions League in front of more eyes, with the revamped group stage also doing so much for the attractiveness of the biggest competition in the sport.

In fact, when Bronze was nominated for SPOTY in 2015, the Man Utd team that Earps currently represents didn’t even exist. As well as the Red Devils, clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Inter, Benfica, Milan, Feyenoord and Roma have entered the women’s game. The growth has been phenomenal in such a short space of time, making women’s football impossible to ignore.

No one has played a bigger role in that growth in England than the Lionesses. Their success has created a buzz, an excitement and a desire to watch the sport that has been seen before in glimpses – think Team GB at the London Olympics in 2012 – but never sustained quite like this.

Bigger commitment from broadcasters and the way the Football Association moves the team around the country, to play games in various locations, has helped build that interest and support, something which was on full display during the World Cup this year. Though the Australian time zone meant the Lionesses’ games were never primetime, pubs still flung their doors open and new television audience records were set. That success at the very highest level has created investment that is trickling down, with teams turning professional further down the pyramid and more and more clubs supporting their women’s teams in bigger ways.

The growth of the sport is so rapid right now that every single year, there are moments that make everyone involved pinch themselves – whether it’s players, staff, fans or media. Earps’ SPOTY win is another one to file into that category.

A women’s footballer had never won this prestigious award until Beth Mead topped the podium in 2022 and now, Earps is the second Lioness in succession to proudly hold the esteemed accolade. Her triumph is a further example of how this England team continues to transcend sport and she is the latest individual to do that herself in what has truly been a monumental year.