She deserved it for her heroics on and off the field
If saving a penalty in England’s first senior World Cup final in 57 years isn’t enough to win the nation’s hearts, celebrating that save by angrily shouting “f— off” to the entire universe will are probably sufficient.
However, looking past that particularly dramatic moment in Sydney, there are a whole world of 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 during England’s victory over Belgium in Leicester in October. The crowd began to sing in unison for the goalkeeper, at a time when she had not even made a recent save. “Mary, Mary, Mary,” echoed through the King Power Stadium, as if she were a hat-trick hero and not a goalkeeper. It was a very small sign of her popularity.
The deep lines of fans begging for her photo or autograph after every game are another. But it’s not just her friendly nature and her reflexes in front of goal that fans admire. It’s the off-field battle she’s had.
Being in the venue in Brisbane on the eve of the tournament starting in July, when Earps first publicly expressed her annoyance at kit manufacturer Nike’s inability to make its World Cup goalkeeper kits available for fans to buy, was an unforgettable moment for a journalist.
Earps sat before a small group of reporters in a quiet back room of the England team hotel in the bustling city center, and rarely has an England player shown such intense passion for his cause. It was clear that not only was she willing to take on the giant Nike, but that deep down, this issue was really important to her.
She really wanted girls to have every opportunity to fall in love with goalkeeping, not just because the words sounded good to say, but because she really cared about it.
Her subsequent moral victory over Nike, which would put the women’s and girls’ goalkeeper kit up for sale and see it quickly sold out, could have a much longer lasting legacy than any individual match.
Then of course there are the numerous accolades on the field. This year, Earps was named FIFA’s best goalkeeper in the world, and last season she set a new record of 14 clean sheets in the Women’s Super League in a single 22-match season.
She also finished fifth in the Ballon d’Or, the highest ever position for a goalkeeper, demonstrating the respect she has earned worldwide.
And she has done so from a position where she was previously left out in the cold in international football just two years ago, before the arrival of Sarina Wiegman as England manager.
We Brits sure love a good comeback story.
But there is another important reason why the British public voted for her. Despite the fact that the Wiegman Lionesses did not ultimately win the World Cup, no one should forget that, whether you are a women’s football fan or not, the Women’s World Cup final was the most important national sporting moment of the year.
And the sporting event of the year that so often captures the nation’s attention leads to the winner of this award being crowned, in what is a public vote. England’s 1-0 defeat by Spain attracted a large television audience of 14.8 million viewers on the BBC and ITV. Earps was a star player in an injury-affected side that made history by reaching the final.
Those who underestimate the public’s growing love for the lionesses are repeatedly proven wrong.
If lionesses lose, it means she did not earn any cultivation energy
It is, quite rightly, rare for someone who plays a team sport to be anointed as the outstanding person of the British sporting year. Jim Laker had to take 19 wickets in a Test, two more than any bowler in history, to receive his silver BBC camera. Bobby Moore had to win the World Cup. Jonny Wilkinson had to kick for immortality in Sydney. With all due respect, few outside women’s football can still place Mary Earps in the same category.
Yes, Earps won the World Cup Golden Glove. But England lost the final modestly. And this, in all honesty, is where her credentials to claim this gong should end. Despite making love with the Lionesses at the ceremony in Salford, this is a team that will end 2023 without a trophy. Just a fortnight ago they failed to qualify for the Olympic Games. Last year their Euro victory justified the hype. This time, their shaky trajectory makes it difficult to argue Earps’ case with any conviction.
I have attended every major final this century, from Helsinki to Wembley and Sydney. It was exciting to witness their evolution from a side act to a main attraction. But Earps as sports personality of the year, after a World Cup where England ultimately fell short? That’s a hard sell.
If we overlook Ryan Giggs’ fabricated Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, team players typically need moments of true majesty to earn such a coveted individual award. Ian Botham did this in 1981 following the first Headingley miracle. Ben Stokes achieved this in 2019 thanks to a display of outrageous wizardry on the same ground, with his winning boundary indelibly inscribed in English sporting folklore.
What equivalent flourish did Earps conjure up during the World Cup in Australia? It is true that she remained steadfast during the Nigeria shootout. Moreover, she kept clean sheets against Haiti and Denmark. But the uncomfortable reality is that she is most celebrated for saving a Spanish penalty in the final in a losing cause, and then very conspicuously shouting “f— off” in celebration. As “I was there” moments go, it wasn’t exactly a moment for posterity.
Earps’ supporters point out that she also had a good year for Manchester United, with fourteen shutouts last season. But were these the highlights that captured the national imagination? Most United women’s team home games were attended by fewer than 8,000 people. While it’s not Earps’ fault, it does weaken the idea of her being heralded as a mainstream superstar.
As for the pressure she put on Nike to sell her replica jersey? A side issue that should have no place when measuring sporting distinction.
As world heptathlon champion in a truly global field, Katarina Johnson-Thompson would have been a more valuable Spoty winner. But for the second year in a row, the award goes to a Lioness. Twelve months ago, when Beth Mead won, you could understand it. This time, Earps’ coronation seems more a reflection of the spirit of the times than of true greatness.