England’s Mary Earps subject of petition as Nike refuse to sell World Cup shirt

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A petition to get Nike to produce the kit of England women’s team goalkeeper Mary Earps and make it available for fans to purchase has racked up over 36,000 signatures online. The Manchester United shot-stopper publicly protested against her strip not being manufactured prior to the Women’s World Cup this summer, having fought ‘behind closed doors’ since April.

Earps was widely regarded as one of the Lionesses’ most important players heading into the tournament, having been named the world’s best female goalkeeper by FIFA earlier this year. And the United star has lived up to her reputation in Australia, pulling off numerous vital saves and only conceding a solitary goal so far in the tournament – a penalty in England’s 6-1 demolition of China.

Earps’ performances have left Nike red-faced, with many fans still wanting to purchase the 30-year-old’s shirt to show their support during the latter stages of the tournament. One young fan has taken the matter into her own hands by starting a change.org petition in the hope of gaining the sporting brand’s attention.

Sixteen-year-old Emmy Somuaroo called on Nike to reverse their decision, with over 36,000 agreeing with the teenager and signing on the dotted line. The petition read: “We need to unite, and demand this decision is overturned. We need to show togetherness and support Mary and ask Nike to rethink their decision.

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“Let’s make them see just how important our female goalkeepers are. How respected they are and how many young girls aspire to join them in the future. Any type of exclusion is unacceptable in this day and age and we need to show we will not stand for it. Mary and all female goalkeepers, we love and respect you. You are inspirational and we are behind you.”

Earps has made it no secret that she has been ‘angry’ with Nike for only selling the kits for outfield players, even offering to dip into her own pocket to fund their production. She told The Guardian: “As a whole goalkeeper union, we are all tremendously disappointed. But also, most importantly, the rest of the girls are really disappointed too. I say that with a wry smile because I wasn’t expecting it.

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“I was expecting to feel super passionate about it, but I temperature-checked it at the time with Leah [Wiliamson], Lotte [Wubben-Moy] and a few others and said: ‘Am I overreacting girls? Goalkeeper through and through.’ And they were like: ‘No, it is absolutely unacceptable.’

“I have gone through every imaginable step I possibly could in this short space of time. Maybe if it was proactively brought to my attention six months ago could we have come up with a solution, I don’t know.

“I offered to buy the shirts myself, I went to the FA to see if we could make something and to be fair my understanding is the FA tried, they put a bit of the technical budget to one side to [try to find a solution].”

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