He deserved it for his heroism on and off the field
If saving a penalty in England’s first senior World Cup final for 57 years wasn’t enough to win the nation over, celebrating the save by angrily shouting “f— off” at the Universe will probably do it.
Looking back at a particularly dramatic moment in Sydney, there are many reasons why Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps is a very worthy winner of the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
Something unusual happened in England’s victory over Belgium in Leicester in October. The crowd started chanting together when the goalkeeper hadn’t even made a save recently. “Mary, Mary, Mary” echoed around the King Power Stadium as if he were the hat-trick hero rather than the goalkeeper. This was a very small sign of his popularity.
The deep lines of fans asking for his photo or autograph after every match are something else. But it’s not just his friendly nature and reflexes in front of goal that fans admire. This is an off-field battle he is fighting.
Being in the room in Brisbane on the eve of the tournament starting in July, where the Earps first publicly expressed their anger at kit manufacturer Nike’s failure to make World Cup goalkeeper jerseys available for fans to purchase, was a memorable moment for one journalist.
The Earps sat in front of a small group of reporters in a quiet back room of the team hotel in England’s bustling city centre, and rarely has an England player shown such intense passion for their cause. It was clear that he was not only ready to take on the giant Nike, but also that this issue was really important to him.
She really wanted girls to have every chance to fall in love with goalkeeping; not just because those words sound good, but because he actually cares about it.
His moral victory over Nike, which is selling women’s and girls’ goalkeeper jerseys and quickly selling out, could have a legacy that lasts far longer than any individual match.
Then of course there are the countless accolades on the field. This year Earps was named Fifa’s best goalkeeper in the world and last season she set a new Women’s Super League record of keeping 14 clean sheets in a single 22-game season.
He also showed the respect he has earned worldwide by finishing fifth in the Ballon d’Or, the highest ever position among all goalkeepers.
And he had done so from a position that had previously been left out in the cold in terms of international football just two years earlier, before the arrival of Sarina Wiegman as England manager.
We Brits absolutely love a good comeback story.
But there is another important reason why the British people voted for him. Although Wiegman’s Lionesses did not lift the World Cup, no one should forget that the Women’s World Cup final is the most important national sporting moment of the year, whether you are a fan of women’s football or not.
And the sporting event of the year that often captures the nation’s attention leads to the crowning of the winner of this award by public vote. England’s 1–0 defeat to Spain attracted a large television audience of 14.8 million viewers on BBC and ITV. Earps was a star player who made history by reaching the final on the injury-hit side.
Those who underestimate the public’s growing love of lionesses are proven wrong again and again.
If the lioness loses, it means she doesn’t deserve the gong
It is rightly a rarity for anyone playing a team sport to be anointed as the outstanding individual of the British sporting year. Jim Laker had to take 19 wickets in a Test to get the BBC silver camera; that was two more than any bowler in history. Bobby Moore was supposed to win the World Cup. Jonny Wilkinson had to take a kick at immortality in Sydney. Sincerely, few people outside of women’s football can put Mary Earps in the same league.
Yes, the Earps won the World Cup’s Golden Glove. However, England lost the final kindly. And honestly, that’s where the authority to claim this gong should end. Despite the love for the lionesses at the Salford ceremony, this is a team that will finish 2023 without a trophy. Just two weeks ago they failed to qualify for the Olympics. Their victory in last year’s Euros justified the excitement. Their shaky course this time makes it difficult to argue the Earps’ claim with any conviction.
I’ve been to every major final this century, from Helsinki to Wembley to Sydney. It’s exciting to watch them transform from a fringe act to a headline-grabbing attraction. So why was Earps named Sportsman of the Year after England came up short in the World Cup? This is a tough sell.
Ignoring Ryan Giggs’ made-up lifetime achievement award in 2009, team players often need moments of genuine glory to deserve such a coveted individual award. Ian Botham did this after the first miracle at Headingley in 1981. Ben Stokes achieved this thanks to his outrageous spell on the same pitch in 2019, and his winning streak is indelibly etched in English sporting folklore.
What equivalent spectacle did the Earps create during the World Cup in Australia? True, he acted decisively in the conflict with Nigeria. He also kept a clean sheet against Haiti and Denmark. But the inconvenient truth is that he is best celebrated for saving the Spanish penalty in a losing cause in the final and then very conspicuously shouting “f— off” in celebration. As “I was there” moments go, it wasn’t so much for posterity.
Earps’ defenders point out that he also had a good year for Manchester United and had 14 shutouts last season. So were these the highlights that sparked the national imagination? Fewer than 8,000 people attended most of the United women’s team’s home matches. While this isn’t the Earps’ fault, it undermines the idea of him being heralded as a mainstream superstar.
As for the pressure he put on Nike to sell his replica shirt? It’s a sideshow that should have no place in measuring sports distinction.
A more worthy Spoty winner would be Katarina Johnson-Thompson, a heptathlon world champion in a truly global field. However, for the second year in a row, this award has been given to a Lioness. You could tell when Beth Mead won twelve months ago. This time, the Earps’ coronation appears to be a reflection of the zeitgeist rather than true greatness.