She’s become a hero among football fans for her passionate on-field displays, hilarious videos with teammates and resilience in the face of adversity.
Now, England goalkeeper Mary Earps is the strong favourite to win the BBC’s Sport Personality of the Year award after the six nominees were announced.
The 30-year-old Manchester United star put in a series of big performances during the Lionesses’ exciting run to the Women’s World Cup final in August when she memorably saved a penalty before shouting ‘f*** off’ in a celebration that went viral.
Earps – who also helped secure the Women’s Euro 2022 crown a year earlier – kept three clean sheets and was awarded the Golden Glove, despite Spain winning 1-0.
But the pathway to greatness for Earps has been far from easy, after she nearly gave up playing only three years ago when she failed to make the England squad.
Four other keepers were picked ahead of the Nottingham-born shotstopper in 2020 and she later revealed she had cried on her kitchen floor upon hearing the news.
But the footballer, who obtained a business degree from Loughborough University in 2016, recovered her form and came back in under England boss Sarina Wiegman .
In recent months she has also seen success when Nike backed down after initially refusing to make replica England goalkeeper jerseys for the Women’s World Cup.
Now affectionately known as ‘Mearps’, ‘Queen of Stops’ and England’s ‘TikTok Queen’, the meteoric rise of the star – who is estimated to earn around £150,000 a year with the Red Devils – is set to be cemented at Tuesday’s awards ceremony.
Mary Earps after saving a penalty during the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney in August
Mary Earps dances on the table after England won Women’s Euro 2022 in London in July 2022
Mary Earps poses for a portrait ahead of the Fifa Football Awards in Paris on February 27
Mary Earps has become a hit on TikTok, making videos with team-mates such as Millie Bright
Earps’s fans have got the moment she saved a penalty in the World Cup final tattooed on them
Fans hold signs for Mary Earps as Manchester United Women play Bristol City on November 26
Earps grew up in Nottingham and began playing football aged eight with her brother and father after joining in when they were kicking a ball around in the garden.
Two years later the father of one of her schoolfriends set up a local team called West Bridgford Colts which she joined and started playing in goal.
Earps then continued playing park football until moving to Leicester City’s centre of excellence aged 14 when she impressed in trials.
She then joined Nottingham Forest aged 16 before soon switching to Doncaster Rovers Belles at a time when she was only getting expenses paid and was not even old enough drive.
Earps previously told how she used to be given a lift by teammates including one who drove all the way from Southampton and would pick her up on the way.
At the time Earps was just moving onto her A-Levels, and worked in a cinema, a children’s toy shop, in two coaching roles and with her father’s business where she did telesales work for him.
She made her debut in the Women’s Super League with Doncaster aged 17, before leaving school and going to Loughborough where she completed a degree in information management and business studies between 2012 and 2016.
But during that period Earps continued playing and appeared for Birmingham City and Bristol City – then joined Reading in 2016, which was the first club at which she received full-time goalkeeper training.
By 2018 she joined defending VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga and spent a year in Germany before returning to England to sign for Manchester United.
She had played for the England national team since joining the under-19 youth setup in 2012 and won her first senior cap in a 4-0 friendly win against Switzerland in 2017.
But having made eight appearances for the Lionesses, she then fell out of favour.
Earps was hoping for a recall from then-managed Phil Neville in September 2020 when four goalkeepers – Carly Telford, Ellie Roebuck, Hannah Hampton and Sandy MacIver – were picked ahead of her.
Later recalling how she recalled how she sank to her kitchen floor and cried upon seeing the squad list, Earps said: ‘I got to a point where I felt I had sort of reached my limits.
‘I had given football a good go, but wasn’t quite good enough. I had responsibilities, I had a mortgage and it wasn’t adding up.’
She eventually decided to spend two more years playing football, but felt like her international career was over.
However, Earps was then called up to Wiegman’s first Lionesses squad in September 2021 and made her first appearance in nearly two years when England beat North Macedonia 8-0.
She then went onto secure the number one spot in goal going into Euro 2022 and started every game, becoming a major reason why England won that tournament.
Earps was then named ‘Best Goalkeeper’ at the Fifa awards in February, and said in her acceptance speech: ‘This is for anyone who has ever been in a dark place.
‘Just know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. There’s only one of you, and that’s more than good enough. Be unapologetically yourself.’
Known for her confidence and commanding voice from the penalty area, she previously told how her experience in the performing arts as a child helped her goalkeeping personality,
Mary Earps, pictured as a child, began playing football aged eight with her brother and father
Mary Earps began playing for a local Nottingham team called West Bridgford Colts aged ten
Earps also receives income from a sponsorship deal with McDonald’s (file publicity picture)
Earps at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2023 at The Royal Opera House on November 15
Earp shares dancing videos with her teammates (pictured with Millie Bright)
The England star shares videos of herself in funny skits
Speaking to Mail Sport last year, Earps said: ‘When you’re doing a singing and dancing solo on stage to Pop Goes the Weasel, demanding your defender to go a little bit right or left doesn’t faze you.
‘That set me apart at a younger age because quite a lot of goalkeepers felt a bit embarrassed to shout or communicate to their team but I was never really like that.’
She added: ‘I’m grateful for every single part of my journey because it’s made me the character and person I am. You know when to demand more from certain situations that aren’t acceptable.’
Earps hit the headlines when Nike failed to sell her goalkeeper shirt for a second tournament running, saying at the time: ‘It’s a very scary message that’s being sent to goalkeepers worldwide that ‘you’re not important’. It’s hugely disappointing and very hurtful.’
But the kit went on sale this week and sold out within five minutes – two months after another limited wave of Earps shirts released by Nike in October also shifted very quickly.
Nike initially refused to make replica England goalkeeper jerseys ahead of the Women’s World Cup in the summer.
However, the manufacturer made a U-turn on that call when Earps criticised them and more than 170,000 people signed a petition imploring them to change their mind.
During the World Cup, Earps was instrumental in England’s run to the final – and after extra-time had ended in their last-16 game with Nigeria, cameras panned to her licking her lips – as if to say ‘bring it on’. England won the penalty shootout.
Mary Earps is very popular on social media and posted this photo of a trip to Greece
Mary Earps described herself as being ‘on top of the world’ in this photo on Instagram
Mary Earps is now the favourite to win the BBC’s Sport Personality of the Year award this year
Mary Earps posted this photo on Instagram to mark her 28th birthday in March 2021
Then she famously saved Jennifer Hermoso’s penalty during the final against Spain, before being seen on camera shouting ‘f*** off!’
The iconic moment even led some fans to get a drawing of it tattooed on their skin.
Earps is also known for her strong fashion sense, appearing at awards ceremonies in glamorous dresses, and she launched her own clothing range called Mae27.
The website has five T-shirt designs with slogans such as ‘there’s only one of you in the world, and that’s more than good enough’ and ‘be unapologetically yourself’. All five cost between £26.50 and £36.50, but they have all sold out.
Earps also receives income from sponsorship deals with Adidas and McDonald’s.
She is known as the ‘TikTok Queen’ among the England players, and has amassed one million followers and 16million likes on the platform.
Earps became a social media star with clips of her top moments on the pitch as well as dance trends with team-mates and behind-the-scenes moments from her life.
But perhaps the achievement she will be most proud of is having inspired thousands of young girls in England to take up goalkeeping.
Earps with teammates Jill Scott, Lauren Hemp and Ellen White at last year’s BBC Sports Personality Of The Year at Dock10 Studios in Manchester on December 21, 2022
Mary Earps celebrates after a Manchester United teammates scores a goal on November 19
Fans hold signs asking for the shirts of Beth Mead and Mary Earps at Wembley on December 1
A mural for Mary Earps is photographed outside Old Trafford in Manchester on December 12
She is now the bookmakers’ runaway favourite to take the Sports Personality of the Year, having been named England women’s player of the year.
Earps also came fifth in the voting for the 2023 Ballon d’Or Feminin – the highest-ever ranking for a goalkeeper – and kept a Women’s Super League record 14 clean sheets last season.
Yesterday she was also named as one of three finalists for Fifa’s best women’s goalkeeper of the year – a trophy she won in 2022.
Earps is joined on the BBC shortlist by retired cricketer Stuart Broad, former jockey Frankie Dettori, heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett and golfer Rory McIlroy.
Other awards being presented on the night are world sport star of the year, young sports personality of the year, coach of the year, team of the year, unsung hero, the Helen Rollason Award for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity, and the lifetime achievement award.