Piers Morgan launches ANOTHER attack on Mary Earps winning Sports Personality of the Year, as he slams ‘celebration of mediocrity’ and ‘virtue-signalling box-ticking’
- Piers Morgan believes Mary Earps did not deserve to win the coveted award
- Earps failed to win anything in 2023, after losing the World Cup final to Spain
- REVEALED on It’s All Kicking Off: Man United’s January transfer window plans… and how the Sir Jim Ratcliffe takeover will impact them
Piers Morgan has launched another scathing attack on Mary Earps after the Lionesses goalkeeper was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Tuesday.
Earps had been the overwhelming favourite to scoop the annual gong in Salford, as she followed tennis star Emma Raducanu and England team-mate Beth Mead in receiving the accolade.
The award further confirmed the growth of women’s football with back-to-back winners, as well as Earps’ own soaring profile in recent years.
Earps, who was part of England’s victorious Euros squad in 2022, helped the Lionesses reach the final of the Women’s World Cup for the first time in Australia and New Zealand, but ultimately suffered an agonising defeat against Spain.
Morgan labelled the ceremony a ‘celebration of mediocrity’ after Earps was announced the winner, claiming the award is a victim of ‘virtue-signalling box-ticking’.
England goalkeeper Mary Earps won BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award on Tuesday
Piers Morgan has launched another attack on Earps after the goalkeeper claimed the award
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Morgan believes Rory McIlroy (left) and Ronnie O’Sullivan (right) – who wasn’t even nominated – were more deserving of the award after their successful year in golf and snooker respectively
On his show Piers Morgan Uncensored, he said: ‘The Sports Personality of the Year award used to be Britain’s celebration of sporting swagger. It was the athletic Oscar’s. A crown of revelry for the sporting superstars who defied the odds, thrilled spectators and rallied the nation, all with a twinkle in their eye and a cheeky grin.’
Morgan then went on to list a some of SPOTY’s previous winners including Ian Botham, David Beckham, Paul Gascoigne and Lennox Lewis, lauding them for their past achievements.
He continued: ‘What they all had in common was that they won a lot of things. Mary Earps seems a thoroughly decent human being with bags of personality and is an excellent women’s goalkeeper, playing for England at the peak of her career. But this year was not the best for her and the Lionesses.
‘They lost the World Cup final to Spain and then failed to qualify for the Olympic Games. This is a year where they really want to just keep quiet, isn’t it? Rather than accepting awards for being the best sporting person in the country. People will recall I was equally scathing when England men’s team won Team of the Year in 2020 after they lost the Euros final to Italy.
‘Mary Earps won nothing. Even her club Manchester United won absolutely nothing. She did lead a virtuous campaign to have replicas of the women’s goalkeeping shirt made available to buy. Okay… but should that win you Sports Personality of the Year? Over Rory McIlroy? Stuart Broad? Frankie Dettori? Even poor Ronnie O’Sullivan?
‘It looks to me like that terrible scourge of virtue-signalling box-ticking has crept into this once great award. It’s become the national equivalent of a participation medal. “Didn’t they all do well, losing doesn’t matter”.
‘This is where we’ve gone. A country that celebrates mediocrity over winning. And when you do that, society inevitably becomes mediocre itself, which is exactly how so many people feel right now.’
Shortly after Earps was announced as the winner on Tuesday, Morgan took to social media to complain about the verdict.
This month’s Sports Personality of the Year award further confirmed the growth of women’s football with back-to-back winners, as well as Earps’ own soaring profile in recent years
Morgan insisted that the winner of Sports Personality of the Year should have tasted success
He referenced the fact that England’s women players have claimed the award back-to-back
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On X, formerly known as Twitter, Morgan wrote: ‘Trying to get my head around two of England’s women footballers winning BBC SPOTY in successive years… while male sporting superstars with great personalities like Rory McIlroy, Frankie Dettori & Ronnie O’Sullivan have never won it’.
Reflecting on her triumph at the BBC Sport Personality of the Year awards, Earps said: ‘This is the ultimate all-round sporting accolade.
‘This is just… wow. It’s not been the easiest journey, I wouldn’t be here without the help of so many, people who have been with me through the really not so great times. I have done more than I can ever have imagined.’
Earps, who could not have done more to swing the balance of the final against Spain, played every minute of England’s World Cup run, conceding only four times to pick up the Golden Glove award.
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