There's something about Mary, Queen of Stops

"She changed goalkeeping. She changed the game. But she hasn't changed."

It takes conscionable 11 words for erstwhile England team-mate Ellen White to neatly sum up the interaction of Mary Earps successful a caller BBC Sport documentary.

Essentially, she is saying, there's thing astir Mary Earps.

And it's thing that'll beryllium felt agelong aft the daze planetary status and the consequent antagonistic headlines, announced this week.

From the peripatetic days bouncing astir a fistful of clubs and juggling six part-time jobs successful the amateur women's shot epoch to juggling endorsements galore arsenic a one-person planetary brand.

From lying successful an inconsolable heap connected the room level hardly capable to talk aft being dropped by then-England brag Phil Neville successful 2020 to uncovering her dependable to instrumentality connected sportswear elephantine Nike.

And lastly, possibly astir long-lastingly, helping to flip the cognition of women's goalkeeping connected its head.

Her beingness connected the transportation and her prescience disconnected it - a willingness to clasp TikTok is wide credited with her immense popularity - has helped marque Earps an unstoppable force.

This week's status is not a afloat halt of course.

Part of the 32-year-old's stated crushed for stepping backmost from planetary shot is to ore connected her nine vocation - she's presently astatine Paris St-Germain.

But the extremity of an planetary epoch inevitably leads to questions astir legacy.

"The bequest I privation to permission is leaving the crippled successful a amended place," she says.

"That's what it's ever been. To effort to permission women's goalkeeping successful a amended spot than it was.

"I deliberation successful much caller times what's been added to that is to marque goalkeeping cool.

"I conscionable deliberation practice matters – you can't beryllium what you can't spot and hopefully I tin correspond to radical a goalkeeper, but besides idiosyncratic who's been done a batch and who is inactive standing, inactive swinging. Hopefully I tin promote others to bash the same."

Anyone looking for a root of encouragement from Earps' vocation has plentifulness to spell at.

But changing the crippled seemed a cardinal miles distant erstwhile the Nottingham-born keeper started out.

In a bid of in-depth interviews for documentary Mary Earps: Queen of Stops, Earps and her household unfastened up astir that travel to the apical of her athletics – and immoderate of the large decisions en route.

Becoming a goalkeeper was a no-brainer.

"From my precise archetypal crippled I knew I wanted to beryllium a goalkeeper," she says of an opening lucifer betwixt her broadside West Bridgford Colts and Hucknall Town. "There was a punishment fixed against america and I saved it. My dada said, successful emblematic dada fashion, 'see, if 1 of the different girls was successful extremity they wouldn't person saved that' and for me, that was it."

"I ever knew she'd beryllium good," her member Joel says. "Something my dada tried to get her to bash was to effort to make into a goalkeeper with attributes that weren't truly a portion of the women's crippled then. A goalkeeper that was bully with her feet. A goalkeeper that would travel retired and cod the shot well."

But contempt her father's precocious standards, Earps was taking her archetypal footballing steps successful a radically antithetic era.

A 17-year-old Earps made her elder debut for Doncaster Belles successful the inaugural play of the Women's Super League successful 2011. At that clip her lucifer interest was £25.

By the clip the WSL turned nonrecreational successful 2018, Earps already had 8 teams connected her footballing resume.

"I deliberation my Wikipedia leafage astir apt looks a spot colourful erstwhile you look astatine each the teams I've played for but that was benignant of the world backmost then," Earps says.

The amateur presumption astatine that clip meant that players were juggling question - "three, 4 oregon 5 hours to a WSL club", remembers Earps – and a time job, astir football. Earps burned the midnight lipid much than astir – astatine 1 clip she had six part-time jobs, including moving astatine a artifact store and a cinema.

As a result, her vocation was astatine a crossroads erstwhile she graduated with a grade successful accusation absorption and concern studies from Loughborough University successful 2016.

"My fears were [the women's game] wasn't sustainable," she says. "The infrastructure for women's shot was not going to let it to spell anywhere.

"Going to assemblage was decidedly ever the program and erstwhile I graduated I thought 'well, I tin either spell for thing that I truly want, or, I tin effort and marque a living'. It felt similar it was worthy taking a spot of a changeable and a spot of a gamble connected my shot vocation and myself."

Earps volition nary uncertainty instrumentality immoderate clip present to look backmost and bespeak connected however that gamble has paid off.

But portion of Earps' awesome accomplishment has been her quality to marque and advocator for alteration successful existent time. On aggregate occasions during her vocation she has spoken up for the request for circumstantial goalkeeping coaches, thing she didn't person entree to erstwhile starting out.

Earps' planetary vocation was precise astir implicit earlier it had started.

There's a country successful the BBC Sport documentary Lionesses: Champions of Europe successful which Earps describes the interaction England manager Sarina Wiegman has had connected her life.

Earps clicks her fingers to the lens arsenic she describes a Sarina Sliding Doors-style shift, saying: "Sarina came successful and beingness changed, virtually similar that. Drop of a dime."

Aged 28, she had been successful a two-year planetary exile anterior to Wiegman's accomplishment successful September 2021. She had played her past crippled nether Neville 2 years earlier against Germany astatine Wembley.

When she recovered retired via Instagram successful March 2020 that she'd been dropped by Neville she deed stone bottom. "It felt similar my satellite was ending," she remembers. "I opened my telephone getting acceptable to scroll implicit luncheon and yeah, I wasn't successful the squad. I'd not had an email, not had a call, not a text, nary notification from anyone.

"That was the infinitesimal wherever I was successful pieces connected the room floor."

In piecing unneurotic immoderate communicative connected the interaction oregon bequest of Earps connected women's football, 1 happening is astir unequivocal.

Without Wiegman's appointment, her travel to winning the Euros and doubly being voted the world's champion goalkeeper wouldn't person happened.

Earps' recollections of her and Wiegman's archetypal speech illuminate 1 of the different ways she's changed the crippled – done her vulnerability.

The spot of their enslaved and instant transportation besides offers penetration into Wiegman's reported frustration, external astatine Earps' status this week.

"The archetypal speech (with Sarina) was truly emotional," Earps says. "It was tears and astonishment and vulnerability and I don't deliberation I had ever truly shared that vulnerability with a manager before.

"It was unusual for maine that that happened wrong a fewer minutes of talking.

"She was precise wide from the start: 'This is your opportunity, it's up to you what you bash with it'."

"She conscionable needed idiosyncratic to judge successful her," erstwhile Manchester United and England team-mate Alessia Russo says.

On the transportation Earps drew connected the symptom of her England exile and began the travel towards the record-breaking goalkeeper she would become.

"It happened astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic maine figuring retired who I was arsenic a idiosyncratic and being like, no, this is who I am. I don't privation to beryllium idiosyncratic else," she says.

"And it's the aforesaid arsenic a goalkeeper.

"This is what I deliberation I'm bully at. Communication. I'm an organiser. Trying to power the crippled successful definite ways.

"I'm not going to effort and bash thing I'm not bully astatine similar basal connected the halfway enactment similar Manuel Neuer would do, due to the fact that that's not who I am. I'm going to effort and bash it the Mary Earps way."

Off the field, the darker times besides helped germinate the Mary Earps way, sparking a gyration successful her cognition to intelligence health, which has had arsenic overmuch of an interaction connected the women's crippled and its fanbase arsenic her prowess successful goal.

"It's go a monolithic portion of who I americium now, to beryllium much susceptible and to beryllium much present," she says.

The zenith of that new-found vulnerability came astatine arguably the pinnacle of her career.

In February 2023, the Manchester United keeper was voted the world's champion goalkeeper astatine Fifa's awards aft inspiring England to their archetypal large women's rubric astatine Euro 2022.

Her acceptance code garnered arsenic galore headlines arsenic her form.

She said the grant was for "anyone who's ever been successful a acheronian place" and added: "Sometimes occurrence looks similar this – collecting trophies – sometimes it's conscionable waking up and putting 1 measurement successful beforehand of the other."

A twelvemonth aboriginal she won the grant again, arsenic good arsenic being named the BBC's Sport Personality of the Year, aft redeeming a punishment arsenic the Lionesses narrowly mislaid the World Cup last to Spain.

"Even erstwhile she won Fifa Best Goalkeeper for a 2nd time, she was inactive the aforesaid Mary successful grooming the adjacent day. The Mary who wanted to beryllium amended than the time before."

Former Manchester United and England team-mate Ella Toone reveals a important crushed down Earps' unthinkable vocation - the steeliness that exists alongside the vulnerability.

Full-back Lucy Bronze recounts an instructive speech agelong earlier Earps was established arsenic England's archetypal choice.

"I retrieve her saying, 'I cognize I person got what it takes to beryllium No. 1'," Bronze says. "She had that belief."

Sportswear marque Nike felt the afloat unit of said steeliness successful the run-up to the 2023 World Cup erstwhile they initially made the determination not to enactment Earps' replica goalkeeper jersey connected sale.

Earps spoke combatively astir the determination connected the eve of the tourney – putting herself successful the centre of a media tempest and besides adding an further load successful a high-profile tourney for which some she and the Lionesses were already successful the spotlight fixed they were among the favourites.

Her comments led to a petition, garnering much than 150,000 signatures and a crisp U-turn by Nike.

"You ever spot young radical privation to beryllium strikers and people the goals but Mary sets the code for being a goalkeeper and however important that tin beryllium too," Russo says.

"To commencement that run was truly almighty but besides truly brave and inspiring to bash portion you're astir to play 1 of the biggest tournaments of your lives."

Once much with Earps, overmuch similar her status this week, it reflects her uncompromising nature.

Earps says she felt compelled to talk due to the fact that the Nike standpoint was "telling a full demographic of radical that they're not important, that the presumption they play isn't important".

She added: "I did consciousness the unit but, careless of however I performed, it was fundamentally a elemental motivation question of… if you get asked that question and you don't reply it honestly, and you person a fantastic tourney oregon you person a atrocious tournament, erstwhile you look astatine yourself successful the mirror, aft your vocation is done, what are you going to think?"

"What if I'd person said it aft the tournament? It wouldn't person been arsenic powerful."

Powerful, unapologetic pre-tournament statements – dependable familiar?

Perhaps Earps' iconic planetary vocation was destined to extremity this way.