Fan, 16, who campaigned for Nike to sell Lioness Mary Earps' goalkeeper shirt 'had to act'

ok.co.uk:

A young football fan has appeared on Lorraine to discuss campaigning for Mary Earps to have replica shirts. Before the beginning of the Women’s World Cup, Nike, which produces the replicas, announced it would not be producing the one worn by the England goalkeeper, in a move that the Lioness called “hurtful.” This caused outrage among fans and inspired Emmy Somauroo, 16, to start a petition that gained over 150,000 signatures.

Speaking on the programme today, 20 August, she said: “I think after we read the article [in which] Mary spoke...about how upset she felt herself… we felt like we had to do something.” She explained that she wanted to do this to “show how everyone's so proud” of the star goalie. “I like to show as much appreciation and support to the players who are making the women's game what it is today, and to think that Mary wasn't able to see our support, without her fans in the stands wearing her shirt...made me upset to think she's felt left out.” Emmy, who successfully campaigned against her school to be able to play football, spoke of her hope for an apology from the sportswear giant but said that she does want people to come together to support all female players.

In a U-turn, Nike will now sell the shirt, which was women by Mary during the tournament which England lost in the final against Spain They said in a statement on Thursday (August 20) that they are “committed” to selling female goalkeepers jerseys for “major tournaments” going forward. “Nike has secured limited quantities of goalkeeper jerseys for England, US, France, and the Netherlands to be sold through the federation websites over the coming days, and we are also in conversations with our other federation partners.