Mary Earps’ Book Furore Illustrates How Women’s Football Fandom Can Turn Toxic | Jonathan Liew

“Why do you constitute for illustration you’re moving retired of time?
Write time and nighttime for illustration you’re moving retired of time
Every time you fight, for illustration you’re moving retired of time
Keep connected fighting successful nan meantime …”
Hamilton (2015)

But let’s time off Mary Earps to 1 broadside for a moment. Let’s time off Hannah Hampton and Sarina Wiegman and Sonia Bompastor, and who did what, who said it when. Let’s talk astir you. How do you consciousness you’ve conducted yourself during nan past fewer days? How would you complaint your words and actions? To what grade do they stack up against your ain individual morals and values?

When nan clip comes to constitute nan chronicle of nan Great Mary Earps Book Furore of precocious 2025 – a chronicle that, connected reflection, Earps should astir apt not effort to constitute herself – what will they opportunity of your role? Will they opportunity you carried yourself pinch dignity and class? Or will they opportunity you spent your clip lapping up nan hectares of coverage, revelling successful nan drama, indulging successful nan discourse, firing disconnected bombs successful nan group chat, furiously scrolling your feed, expressing blunt and forthright views astir group you’ve almost surely ne'er met?

This has, aft all, been 1 of nan main incongruities of nan full affair. Time and again you perceive nan position that Earps’s caller autobiography and nan consequent fallout has been a sad and regrettable section each round, an unnecessary contention that benefits cipher successful women’s football. This is not what we should beryllium talking about, reason galore of nan aforesaid group who can’t look to extremity talking astir it. Nobody is enjoying this, insist nan journalists and pundits and terminally online fans who – weirdly – look to beryllium enjoying this rather a lot.

And possibly this has to beryllium nan uncomfortable starting constituent for immoderate chat of nan Earps book, or at slightest nan parts serialised successful nan Guardian complete caller days. We do bask this. This is, successful fact, nan benignant of thing everyone likes to see. Feuding goalkeepers, clattering egos, soiled laundry, tribal beef, nan autumn from grace, nan saccharine licentious thrill of nan societal media tidal wave. Your tweet connected really Natalia Arroyo’s 3-5-2 has wholly transformed Aston Villa’s style and power disconnected nan shot sank without trace. Never mind: present comes Earps and her incendiary ghosted prose to prevention america all.

In short, everyone seems to person done rather good retired of this. Earps and her patient tin luxuriate successful a flurry of book sales. Hampton has managed to look arsenic nan leader of nan portion mostly by saying thing astatine each and continuing to play for illustration nan champion goalkeeper successful nan world. The contented creators person eaten and near nary crumbs. At which constituent it is astir apt worthy dwelling a small connected nan civilization we person each played a portion successful sustaining here, a civilization that arguably generated this lucrative conflict successful nan first place.

Mary Earps saves Jenni Hermoso’s punishment for Spain successful nan 2023 World Cup final. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters

Let’s statesman by rewinding a mates of years, to an era we astir apt person to picture arsenic nan Earps Supremacy. Fresh from Earps redeeming a punishment successful nan World Cup last and taking connected a world sports giant complete its refusal to banal women’s goalkeeper jerseys, Earpsmania was astatine its very peak. Bolstered by a immense publicity run and a artillery of soft-focus interviews, she surged to triumph successful nan BBC’s Sports Personality of nan Year award, up of Stuart Broad (won an Ashes Test and retired successful a blaze of glory) and Katarina Johnson‑Thompson (world heptathlon champion).

Bear successful mind that astir 18 months earlier, earlier Euro 2022, hardly anybody extracurricular women’s shot had really heard of her. Had Earps earned this activity of adulation wholly connected nan spot of her goalkeeping skill? Of people not. This was a God cult built astatine slightest successful portion connected optics and personality, aliases astatine slightest nan characteristic projected on to her by nan media and those who devour it. And immoderate you thought of Earps then, immoderate you deliberation of her now, this is fundamentally a very weird point to hap to immoderate quality being, an acquisition that astir apt shapes a personification successful important and not wholly patient ways.

Mary Earps alongside Sarina Wiegman, nan England head who came successful for immoderate disapproval successful nan goalkeeper’s book, astatine St George’s Park successful 2023. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

This is nan constituent of women’s shot fame that is tonally different to its balanced successful nan men’s game. It is an aggravated and often flagrantly exploitative process, a stampede of brands and broadcasters and – yes – publishers each demanding their quadrate ft of access, pinch nan acrid subtext that nan bully times are short and nan winds of nationalist favour fickle and, you know, amended rate successful while you can.

Bear successful mind, too, that for each her occurrence connected nan transportation Earps is not a multimillionaire, is not group up for life, a 32-year-old shot-stopper successful an property wherever her occupation is quickly evolving beyond her, lacking nan wealthiness and organization support that a antheral footballer of balanced stature would enjoy. And of people nary of this is to take sides her comments aliases her interviews aliases her choices aliases her timing. This is simply a grown big who tin advocator for herself. The constituent is: what benignant of prima did we expect to look from an manufacture and an system centred astir nan individual marque and nan societal media algorithm, its veneration of earthy emotions, stan culture, exemplary iconography, quiet “girlboss” slogans and bare female flesh?

“Your estimation is everything successful women’s football,” nan erstwhile England defender Gilly Flaherty observes successful an section of nan Counter Pressed podcast. And for each its exponential maturation this remains a comparatively mini world, wherever a fewer voices clasp disproportionate sway complete nan discourse, wherever what matters is little what you did than really a fewer 1000 group connected nan net will construe and represent it. A azygous out‑of‑context still photograph tin make months of memes. Intrusive speculation astir players’ partners and sexuality is fundamentally priced into nan existence.

And for nan astir portion this is each conscionable content, nan worldly that greases nan wheels, portion of what makes women’s shot fandom specified a riotous and countercultural space. The clasp of queer civilization and intelligence wellness sermon offers a striking counterpart to nan firm conservatism of nan men’s game. But possibly we are besides wilfully unsighted to nan ways successful which it has nan imaginable to move toxic, nan ways successful which women’s shot fandom tin get from nan worst elements of reality tv and popular music, turning athletics into disposable quality drama.

Ironically, it is Earps who has offered 1 of nan much insightful testimonies of what it must beryllium for illustration to inhabit this world. “Women’s shot has entered into a abstraction that has go a spot for illustration entertainment, truthful your life gets picked isolated for people’s amusement sometimes,” she said successful a BBC question and reply this week. And yes, Earps whitethorn person profited from playing nan crippled she decries. All nan same: she’s sewage a point.