The first two-time winner of The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper award, she kept four clean sheets in six matches at the UEFA Women’s EURO to help England win their first major trophy. She then followed those exploits with even more spectacular heroics at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and looked destined for the adidas Golden Glove award even before her penalty-save in the final.
But while her skills were reflected in that agile stop from Jenni Hermoso, it was her reaction that summed up Earps’ personality. Anyone semi-skilled at lip-reading, and in any way offended by swearing, would certainly have needed to look away hurriedly as the world’s top keeper unleashed a flurry of celebratory F-words.
Yet her status among English fans, far from being diminished by this defiant outburst, was enhanced. Asked recently whether the save or her reaction had engendered more admiration, she told GQ: “For the most part I think I was considered a national treasure for the F-bomb!”
“It tells you a lot about British humour and culture,” the England keeper added, and that may be true. But it also explains a great deal about Earps herself, and what endears her to the football public.
After all, when she insisted that her surge of swearwords “wasn’t aimed at anything or anyone” and “was just the total passion of being in the zone”, no-one doubted her for a second. That is because she is a player with a proven record of wearing her heart on her sleeve, and a woman known for speaking with candour on subjects from mental health to gender inequality.
Earps also believes that her success in public votes – such polls won her the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, and helped secure The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper titles – reflect her openness about past struggles.
“I hope people relate to me a little bit, and relate to kind of the struggles I’ve been through,” she told FIFA. “A lot of people stop me and talk to me about that. Everyone has struggles in life and I don’t think we really talk about that a lot. We’re not open about it. And we’re all just human beings doing our best, going through ups and downs.
“So maybe that’s it. I just try and be myself, and be authentic to what I’ve been through, while also trying to stay grateful and keep pushing and striving – because I want more.
“It’s a really hard balance, I think, as an elite athlete, to be always wanting to do bigger and better things, but also appreciating what you have. But I think the more difficult times I faced have definitely helped me be a little bit more present in the moment.
“I’m really focusing on trying to enjoy each thing or each day as it comes. When you’re younger, I think you get into this habit of just steamrolling life and looking at the next bigger thing. And, yeah, I think it’s really important to just be where you are, and recognise how far you’ve come.”
That enhanced sense of appreciation, Earps says, comes accompanied by elevated levels of enjoyment. And it is the basics of her job, executed on the biggest stages, that send those levels soaring.
“I just love playing football. I love pulling off saves. I love the heat of battle. Those big pressure moments, I feel like it’s all so much fun. It’s what you work for your entire life since you’re a kid diving around in the mud, then working hard when it’s really ugly and when nobody’s watching. Those are the big moments you do it for, in the big tournaments.”
Earps needs no reminding that such moments will be denied to her this year, with England having failed to qualify for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament at Paris 2024. After successive years in which a EURO and World Cup brought one career highlight after another, the absence of that major-tournament buzz is already beginning to bite.
“It’s very disappointing and, honestly, it feels a bit weird not to have a tournament to prepare for this year,” she said. “Ultimately, we didn’t do well enough to get the results we needed. That’s the reality, and that’s our responsibility.
“I do think it’s difficult when you’re coming straight off a World Cup and going into really important qualifiers, but that’s the business we’re in. And at the end of the day we fell short.
“But if anything, it just puts even more fire in my belly. I think it’s given us all more motivation to strive to be better because what happened to us just shows how competitive the game is now. You can’t be off it for a second in women’s football right now.
“It’s a sore one but there’s nothing we can do it about now. We just need to take it on the chin, learn from it, take the chance to rest and make sure that we’re there, better than ever, when the next major tournament comes around.”
