20 December 2023 , 15:24
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Prince William has sent a defiant five-word message to Mary Earps amid a row over her BBC Sports Personality of the Year win.
The 30-year-old England goalkeeper, who plays for Manchester United, was named the winner of the 2023 award beating the likes of jockey Frankie Dettori, golfer Rory Mcllroy, cricketer Stuart Broad, athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson and wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett. Her award came after she gave an outstanding performance at the Women's World Cup earlier this year, where she was awarded the Golden Glove for only letting in four goals during the entire tournament and keeping three clean sheets.
Prince William with England goalkeeper Mary Earps (Manjit Narotra/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)However, her win has been criticised by the likes of Piers Morgan, who said he was trying to get her head around the win, while former footballer Joey Barton questioned why she scooped the award claiming she had "not won a sausage" after England side were defeated in the World Cup final.
But William, chairman of the Football Association, reached out to Mary with a personal message on X, formerly Twitter, and said: "Hugely well deserved, Mary. Congratulations!" He followed the message with the letter W to denote it was a personal tweet.
Meanwhile, on accepting her award last night, Mary hailed the part played by her England and Manchester United teammates. She said: "I would not be here without my team-mates with the Lionesses and at Manchester United because we’ve achieved some incredible things over the last couple of years. While individual accolades are great, they only come after team success. This is their trophy just as much as mine."
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Mary with her Sports Personality of the Year trophyHer international career appeared at a crossroads in 2021 and she acknowledged during the BBC show that she felt she had "lost purpose" after losing her place in the England team. Manager Sarina Wiegman recalled her in the first England squad she named in September of that year after Mary had been out in the cold since November 2019.
The goalkeeper added: "I always committed to myself that anything I would have after that period of time (out of the England team) would be a bonus and it just hasn’t stopped yet. I’m just trying to make the most of everything because when it stops, you miss it."
Mary played every minute of England's seven World Cup matches, conceding only four goals and keeping three clean sheets as she lay claim to the tournament's Golden Glove award. It was the second such award she scooped up in the calendar year, having won the Women’s Super League’s edition courtesy of her record 14 clean sheets for Manchester United throughout the 2022-23 season.
Her success on Tuesday night made her the third successive female winner of the award, after US Open tennis champion Emma Raducanu in 2021 and her England team-mate Beth Mead last year.