Mary Earps shirts: Nike U-turn and you CAN now buy her shirt
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Nike have announced that they WILL now sell some replica shirts of England goalkeeper Mary Earps.
It comes after lots of public criticism, complaints from players and a petition by 16-year-old fan Emmy.
Until now Nike, who supply kit for England's Lionesses, did not sell a replica Mary Earps home or away shirt, which the England goalkeeper described as "hurtful".
Celebs, fans, footballers and Lionesses themselves have publicly been asking the sports brand to think again.
Teenager fights back
Sixteen-year-old Lionesses fan Emmy started her own online petition to ask Nike to "rethink their decision" not to sell goalkeepers' jerseys, which received more than 150,000 signatures of support.
She wanted to show Nike "how important our female goalkeepers are".
Responding to the change of heart, Emmy said it was "amazing" the brand had changed its mind.
She added: "Obviously there was that hope that it would happen, I didn't believe it would happen so quickly, and it would be a very quick turnaround.
"But I think we can just be grateful that they have turned around and listened to us."
At first Nike responded to criticism by saying they would find solutions for future tournaments, but the complaints grew and now it says it has "secured limited quantities of goalkeeper jerseys to be sold" which will be available to buy online.
But so far they haven't said how many shirts will be available for fans to buy and if they will be available in all sizes.
Homemade solutions
During the tournament some fans took matters into their own hands.
One company created an unofficial Earps shirt. And some people got creative, fashioning their own hand-made jerseys.
Mary Earps hasn't yet responded to the news that a limited quantity of replica keeper shirts will be made available to buy.
But she said in July that Nike's decision not to sell a goalkeeper's shirt with her name on it was "disappointing" when fans could buy a shirt of all the other Lionesses.
- Published23 August 2023
- Published21 August 2023
- Published21 August 2023