Mary Earps says she was given a guarantee from Nike that they will make England Women's goalkeeper jerseys available for public sale in the future.
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Earps had public dispute with NikeCriticised brand for not selling goalkeeper shirtsWas given guarantee they will not repeat errorWHAT HAPPENED?
The England and Manchester United star hit out at the famous sportswear brand during the Women's World Cup after discovering that goalkeeper jerseys were not put up for sale. Nike eventually backtracked and the shirts quickly sold out. Earps' has followed up the controversy with further talks with the company and says they have ensured they will not repeat the mistake in the future.
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Earps told : "I'm just happy that it was sold. Hopefully as many people got what they wanted but it was more about the principle than anything. Would I like to see more shirts? Of course. The reality is there was none [available before]. There was never a thought of [selling them] until what we achieved in the last 12 months. "It's been a long, work in progress with all of our voices and the public have got behind me. Now it's a conversation of 'OK, how many?' And that's a very different conversation to what it was before."
After revealing that she has been given a "commitment from Nike that it will never happen again", she added: "The fact that young girls and adults – whoever want the shirts – can have access to them… People might be complaining now that there's not enough – but I'll absolutely take that complaint over there being none."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Earps' heroics for the Lionesses resulted in huge demand for the goalkeeper jersey among fans. She played a vital role in Sarina Wiegman's team making it to the final in Australia and New Zealand, where they were beaten 1-0 by Spain. Earps won the competition's Golden Glove award – just one of many individual awards seized by the shot stopper, who was also named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2023.
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR EARPS?
After claiming the BBC award this week, Earps could add another huge prize to her name next month as she is a candidate to be be named FIFA The Best Women's Goalkeeper for 2023 when the winner is announced on January 2024.