Mary Earps reflects on her career and aims to improve women's football for future generations. She emphasizes the importance of giving back and leaving the sport in a better state than she found it.
Mary Earps on England farewells and giving back: âI want to leave the game in a better place than where I found itâ
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Mary Earps on England farewells and giving back: âI want to leave the game in a better place than where I found itâ
Mary Earps is approached casually, calmly and with visible triumph. Someoneâs sister is a goalkeeper. Cousin. Themselves. Theyâve saved a goal. Two goals. A penalty. They did that thing where they leap to the right but save the shot with their left toe. One of them roared like her.Â
âAll of which could be a total lie,â qualifies the Paris Saint-Germain and former England No 1 as she recalls a trip to the shops in Manchester last Friday.
Earps remembers the days when no one was a goalkeeper, not in the âregale someone with your heroics in the shopâ sense; the âshow off your gloves publiclyâ sense.
Vignettes from before England won the 2022 European Championship are retrieved with ease, when many young goalkeepers were appointed goalkeepers by virtue of tardiness or how close oneâs head reached the bar; when Earps, during more nomadic spells at Bristol Academy (now Bristol City), Reading and eventually Manchester United, attended training sessions at local clubs and the coach would implore in surreptitious whispers to âhave a word with the girls. None of them want to go in goal at the weekendâ.
Those days are mostly gone. Earps recalls the launch of the all-weather âMary Earps Pitchâ at Calverton Miners Welfare FC in Nottingham in February, where she spent spare minutes counting the heads of players attending the goalkeeping session on one pitch (33) and the heads of those playing pick-up on the one next to it (20), before stealing a few more minutes to count them again for surety. Â
Earpsâ driving purpose for years, alongside her successful playing career, has been to make womenâs goalkeeping cool. It is what sat at the heart of her girls-only goalkeeping clinics in Reading and academy clinics at PSG.
It is also what led her to fight (and beat) sporting apparel giant Nike during the 2023 World Cup over the sale of womenâs goalkeeping shirts, and what has driven her most recent venture, KeepHers â a programme in partnership with the charity Foundation 92 that will provide free goalkeeping sessions to girl footballers aged six to 18 in Manchester via after-school and in-school sessions.Â
âThereâs a stat that 80 per cent of girls in England still donât get access to specialised goalkeeping training until late in their careers,â says Earps in a tone that is equal parts personal experience and horror. She didnât receive technical goalkeeping training until she was 14, when she joined Leicester Cityâs Centre of Excellence.
âItâs not that Iâm forcing goalkeeping on everyone,â says Earps with a short, deprecating laugh, âbut thatâs insane. It makes becoming a goalkeeper even harder.âÂ
Earps could talk about this all day. In fact, she only stops because of the physiological need for hydration. âTake what you want from that spiel,â she says, following an impassioned three-minute monologue about the ongoing growth of womenâs goalkeeping, from the butterfly effect of goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaarâs 2023 World Cup player of the match award following the Netherlandsâ last-16 win against South Africa to Englandâs Euro triumph last summer.
Unfiltered zeal has long been Earpsâ strength. See: taking Nike to the brink or screeching âF*** offâ after saving a penalty from Spainâs Jennifer Hermoso in the 2023 World Cup final.
More recently, though, it has been, if not a weakness, then an exposure; a nick in the perfection armour with which we anoint elite athletes. Donning oneâs heart on oneâs sleeve in some part led Earps to announce her shock retirement from international football just 36 days out from last summerâs Euros and to publish a tell-all autobiography in the subsequent months, including her emotional conversations with England manager Sarina Wiegman regarding her renewed faith in Hannah Hampton, now Englandâs No 1.Â
It, in part, explains why when The Athletic asks Earps for the origin story of KeepHer, she laughs.
âGosh, a long, long story. But I mean, really, how interesting is my story?â The query carries no hint of irony, despite the aforementioned autobiography chronicling that very story, or its transformation into a point of forensic dissection for fans and media alike.Â
The fallout from the autobiographyâs release was intense; in some corners withering (her public airing of internal squad tensions was condemned as churlish and selfish); in others illuminating (her candour about alcohol, body image and self-confidence). But the months since have compelled Earps to consider that question of her storyâs interest. Or, more accurately, what is important as opposed to interesting, and where her story rests within that gamut.
âIâm very conscious of how big the world is and how small your own world is within the universe,â she says. âBut equally, itâs been really clear through what Iâve been able to achieve on and off the pitch that football is a vehicle for change. You can change peopleâs lives.
âIâve always wanted to leave the game in a better place than where I found it. You look at the people who came before you and think that wouldnât have been possible without those people fighting for change. Then you look at the girls coming behind you and you feel like youâve played your place in time.Â
âBut itâs become more complicated when you get thrust into the public eye. It seemed so simple five years ago. Of course, youâre not going to be everyoneâs cup of tea. People arenât always going to agree with you. Thatâs life, I suppose. But I think that when you go through something like that, which was very difficult and I donât want to dive back in, it makes you realise: âOK, whatâs really important? What do I really want to do from here?â. That was a big thing at the back end of last year.Â
âAnd of course, you question yourself. Like, what are you doing? Should you be in the industry? Should you just say: âThis isnât for me. I just want a steady, quiet lifeâ? Then itâs like: âNo, Iâm in this crazy positionâ. Itâs a privilege at the end of the day. And Iâm not perfect. Iâm always going to get things wrong at different times. But I also think thatâs a really beautiful thing, to continue to show up when youâre not perfect.
âHopefully then, when I do creep off for a quiet life, at some point in time I can look back and be really proud of the kids playing on the Mary Earps pitch and everybody going to the KeepHers sessions.âÂ
Earps says the last sentence with a smile, but she does intend, one day, to âcreep offâ.
âWhen you get to this stage, you know youâre here for a good time, not a long time,â she says. While still one of the gameâs most imposing characters, at 33, her quality has ebbed at times. This season, Earps has conceded 18 goals from an expected goals on target (xGOT ) of 13.20, according to Fotmob.Â
Earpsâ contract with PSG, who sit third in Franceâs Division 1 Feminine, 15 points off leaders Lyon, expires this summer. She plays coy on her next location â âIf I told you, Iâd have to kill you, James Bond style,â she quips â but there is no doubt she will continue competing.Â
âUntil the wheels fall off. Until the mind and body say: âAbsolutely not, weâre doneâ.âÂ
The international break affords Earps time to attend a farewell tribute from the Football Association before Englandâs World Cup qualifier against Spain at Wembley on Tuesday night, in honour of her retirement last May.
The length of time between retirement and the tribute boiled down to scheduling conflicts, Earps says. But despite the time that has passed, how she will be received remains to be seen. In November, when she returned to England for PSGâs 2-1 Champions League group-stage defeat to her former club, Manchester United, smatterings of boos mingled with applause.
Earps, understandably, is unsure how Tuesdayâs tribute will unfold. Her own emotions are complicated. The last time she attended Wembley in a football capacity (technically, she has been back since for an Oasis concert) was Englandâs 1-0 win against Spain in the Nations League last February. That Tuesdayâs match will be against the same opponents represents a full-circle moment, albeit one that has left Earps on the other side of the circleâs boundaries.
âAlessia (Russo) texted this morning, actually, trying to figure out how Iâm going to see her now that weâre on opposite sides (of that circle),â Earps says. âThereâs security. So itâs like: âHow are we going to meet?â How am I going to see her family?â. Itâs very complicated, actually.â
None of which speaks to the emotions of the occasion, which will see Earps return to a team that felt, at a time, almost synonymous with her image.Â
âWe all know by now I wear my heart on my sleeve,â Earps adds. âBut I have no idea how itâs going to be, truth be told. Wembley is obviously an incredible place where Iâve got so many amazing memories, and Spain, a team that weâve gone to war with so many times and have so many incredible memories as well. It felt like the perfect game.
âIâm looking forward to it, but Iâm not very good at emotional things. So weâll see, but I hope it will just be a special day.âÂ
What are Mary Earps' goals for the future of women's football?
Mary Earps aims to leave women's football in a better place by focusing on giving back and supporting future generations of players.
How does Mary Earps feel about her experiences as a goalkeeper?
Mary Earps expresses a sense of triumph and connection with fans who share their own goalkeeping stories and experiences.
What was Mary Earps' recent experience in Manchester?
Mary Earps had a casual encounter in Manchester where she was approached by fans sharing their goalkeeping achievements.
What impact has Mary Earps had on women's football?
Mary Earps has significantly contributed to women's football as a former England No 1 goalkeeper, inspiring many with her dedication and commitment to the sport.
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