Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
Mary Earps, the England goalkeeper and BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is leaving Manchester United to join Paris Saint-Germain. “Sweary Mary” – so called for her emphatic outburst after saving a penalty during last year’s World Cup final – had come to the end of her contract. But she left with another, subtler, blast that United had become a club that was “about to undergo a period of transition”. That did not fit with the ambitions of a woman recognised as the world’s best goalkeeper and came as United announced it was dumping the women’s team into temporary changing cabins to make room for the men while their training facilities are renovated. Other Women’s Super League (WSL) clubs are taking the opposite path. Chelsea, for example, seem about to sign one of the biggest stars in the world, Lucy Bronze, from Barcelona. United were slow to join the WSL revolution. Now they are falling further behind.
