Mary Earps’ reaction and what she says about role models in women’s sports

Everyone must take responsibility for the choices they make and the consequences. This is how it should be.

I also think we want those archetypal angels in women’s sports, who are role models, who do everything perfectly and say all the right things. But football and women’s sports wouldn’t be where it is if someone didn’t put their head above the parapet and tear up the rule book.

That’s a lot of pressure – to be someone who has no flaws at all. Everyone is multidimensional and people will get things wrong.

It’s really unfortunate that for whatever reason, as well as the timing, Mary Earps decided to write her autobiography and release it now while she’s still an active gamer.

It made a lot of people feel uncomfortable, uneasy and sad about how it all fell apart because it put the spotlight on two players – Mary and Hannah Hampton – who many played with and enjoyed seeing rise to the top. We all felt part of their journeys and the success they brought to the Lionesses.

This situation seems to have called into question the notions we have about role models in women’s football. It feels like breaking that bubble that led to all this reaction.

People have different ways of dealing with hurt, stress, transitions, or changes in their role or position within a team.

I understand why Mary felt the need to use this autobiography to tell her side of the story, to metaphorically close a chapter on her career in England, but it is very uncomfortable for me not to recognize the impact this could have on Hampton and manager Sarina Wegman.

There is an unwritten collective understanding that what happens within the team stays on the team. This is how you build trust and respect. You don’t have to love each other all the time but respect each other.

Mary is navigating a new life and this will be a lesson she didn’t want to learn but I know she is an amazing person. I hope she gets a second chance to remind us why she was our national sweetheart.