Mary Earps has said she thinks Nike learned lessons over the “injustice” of not making her England replica shirt available for sale after the World Cup.
Nike faced a widespread backlash for not selling the England goalkeeper’s shirt that she wore at this summer’s tournament, where her side reached the final. After mounting pressure, the sports brand released Earps’ green long-sleeved Lionesses shirt for sale, with the product selling out twice after a matter of minutes.
Asked by Sky News on Sunday if she thought Nike “learned a lesson” over the issue, Earps said: “Definitely. I would like to think so, I’ve been speaking to Nike quite a bit over the course of the year.”
The 30-year-old added: “They know that they got this wrong and that’s why they’ve done this correction. A big company like Nike, they wouldn’t do that if they didn’t know it wasn’t right and that there was an injustice there.”
Earps, the heavy favourite to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on Tuesday, continued: “They did the right thing and, really, I can’t thank the public enough for their support and, really, we wouldn’t be in this position without it. I think from that, collectively, we’ve really changed the world, so thank you to everyone.”
Earps won Fifa’s Golden Glove award for her performances in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and also won the Fifa best goalkeeper award last year. The keeper, who plays for Manchester United at club level, saved a penalty from Jennifer Hermoso in the final against Spain, which England lost 1-0.
A petition calling for Nike to make shirts available, to show support for Earps and “all female goalkeepers around the world” gained more than 150,000 signatures, while the Conservative MP Tracey Crouch, a former sports minister, submitted a motion in parliament calling on Nike to release a jersey.
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“I was really [unsure] whether to use my voice and to speak on it or not,” Earps said on Sunday. “I thought I was just speaking for a niche of goalkeepers, but it turned out to be support from a group of much wider group of people.”
Earps had previously described Nike’s decision not to offer World Cup replica goalkeeper jerseys as “hugely disappointing and very hurtful”. After the company initially said they would look into supplying shirts for future tournaments, she wrote on Instagram: “Is this your version of an apology/taking accountability?”
