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Piers Morgan has questioned whether England goalkeepers Mary Earps deserved to win the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award over her fellow nominees, while appearing to misunderstand the meaning of the award.<\/p>\n
Earps was presented with the famous trophy at a ceremony on Tuesday night after a year in which she helped England to the Women\u2019s World Cup final in Sydney and won the Golden Glove at the tournament following a series of outstanding performances, including a penalty save in the final, which Spain won 1-0.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old Manchester United player also earned praise after speaking out against Nike\u2019s decision to not make the England goalkeeping jersey available for sale during the World Cup. Following a public petition that received over 170,000 signatures, Nike U-turned and Earps\u2019 shirt sold out in minutes amid \u201cunprecedented\u201d demand when it was eventually made available to buy this winter.<\/p>\n
Earps was odds-on favourite to win Sports Personality of the Year and topped the public vote ahead of recently retired England bowler Stuart Broad, jockey Frankie Dettori, athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, tennis player Alfie Hewett and golfer Rory McIlroy. <\/p>\n
After 14 consecutive years of male winners of the Sports Personality of the Year award between 2007 and 2020, there have now been three female winners in a row. Earps follows Lionesses forward Mead, who won after England\u2019s Euros triumph in 2022, and tennis player Emma Raducanu after her US Open success in 2021.<\/p>\n
But Morgan suggested that her fellow nominees had been overlooked. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to get my head around two of England\u2019s women footballers winning BBC SPOTY in successive years,\u201d the controversial broadcaster tweeted. \u201cWhile male sporting superstars with great personalities like Rory McIlroy, Frankie Dettori & Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan have never won it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan appeared to mistakenly think the word \u201cpersonality\u201d in the award\u2019s title refers to the character of the athletes, when in fact it simply means a person of note. The award is based on achievement in the field of sport.<\/p>\n
Responding to a tweet which criticised direct comparison between men and women\u2019s sport, Morgan added: \u201cThat\u2019s not why she shouldn\u2019t have won. Last year, Beth Mead was deserved winner because the Lionesses won the Euros, but this year they lost the World Cup Final and failed to qualify for the Olympics. Many men more deserving – esp McIlroy, Dettori, O\u2019Sullivan, Broad.\u201d<\/p>\n
McIlroy played a key role in Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup triumph in Rome, although his long wait for a fifth major title goes on. O\u2019Sullivan did not claim the snooker world title although he did win the UK Championship, 30 years on from his first. Dettori enjoyed a renaissance aged 52 with a host of wins including the Gold Cup, while Broad signed off his cricket career in fairytale fashion with a wicket to win the last men\u2019s Ashes Test of the summer.<\/p>\n
They were all nominated, but the public voted overwhelmingly in favour of Earps. \u201cSport is a fantastic thing where it brings the world together and it\u2019s been brilliant to listen to everyone\u2019s stories, so congratulations to you all,\u201d Earps said on stage. \u201cI\u2019m very honoured and humbled, as this is the ultimate all round sporting accolade. We\u2019ve had an incredible couple of years but this is just, wow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan was criticised in the summer after a tweet during the World Cup final suggesting there were \u201ca lot of very over-emotional women\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n