In a victory that goes far beyond the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Nike has finally agreed to sell Mary Earps’ Lionesses shirt following backlash across the country and the footballing world. Get in.
The Lionesses and Man United Women’s no.1 has been leading the charge when it comes to demanding Nike U-turn on their decision not to sell female goalkeeper kits for this year’s tournament and after weeks of uproar among the general public, the sports brand has finally buckled.
Following Earps saving what has now gone down as an iconic penalty moment in the Women’s World Cup final against Spain, the public outcry for the company to produce replicas of her England shirt grew even louder, with more than 150,000 people signing a petition in support of selling the kit.
As a result, the petition was submitted to Parliament and Nike has now confirmed they will finally manufacture and sell ‘Mary Earps 1’ Lionesses shirts. About bloody time.
Nike confirm they will sell England goalkeeper Mary Earps' replica shirt in limited quantities 👕 pic.twitter.com/o95nTULy7F
Issuing a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday night, 23 August, a spokesperson said: “Nike has secured limited quantities of goalkeeper jerseys for England, U.S., 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”.
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As per multiple outlets, they went on to assure, “We’ve seen and share the unprecedented passion and interest in women’s football this year and remain committed to playing our part by offering the best products and services to athletes and fans.
“We invested more in this year’s WC than any other global tournament to date… We recognize that during the tournament we didn’t serve those fans who wished to show their passion and support to the squad’s goalkeepers. We are committed to retailing women’s goalkeeping jerseys for major tournaments in the future.”
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While the female keeper kits will only be available in “limited qualities” for the four nations, the U-turn is a watermark moment in the women’s and serves as a brilliant moment in which the general public notched a huge win against a worldwide corporation. They didn’t let up for one second and here in Manchester, we had a feeling the writing was on the wall from the get-go.
Speaking when the controversy first came into the public eye, the 30-year-old England women’s keeper said, “I can’t really sugar-coat this in any way, so I am not going to try. It is hugely disappointing and very hurtful… What you’re saying is that goalkeeping isn’t important but you can be a striker if you want.”
The support from her teammates, across the nation and throughout football in general has been nothing short of seismic and after she once again called out the giant sporting fashion franchise for what many labelled a bit of non-statement, it’s clear that the fan pressure and public sentiment became to big to ignore.
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A truly massive and well-deserved moment for Mary Earps and her fellow women goalkeepers.
We knew it was going to happen the second she saved that pen.
Appeal launched to find the owner of live chickens found at Creamfields festival
Daisy Jackson
The hunt is on to find the owner of a pair of chickens who were discovered at Creamfields festival.
The two birds were spotted on the grounds of the huge electronic music festival by bewildered festival-goers.
The cockerel and hen were trapped in a hedge, after it appears they wandered onto the festival campsite before the security barriers were installed.
The birds then found themselves trapped inside as around 70,000 music fans poured into Cheshire for a line-up that included Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, Disclosure, and Tiësto.
The chickens have been safely rescued from the Creamfields festival site and are recovering at a wildlife centre, and now the RSPCA is on a mission to find their owner.
Festival-goers first called the RSPCA on Saturday 29 August to alert them to the cockerel and hen trapped inside the festival, one of whom assisted in the rescue mission.
RSPCA Inspector Leanne Cooper: “I was surprised that they were inside the festival site and I needed to get through the road blocks and security before reaching them on foot through muddy fields. I met the caller who helped me as they were just running up and down the hedge line where there was a wire fence blocking access.
Where the chickens were discovered at CreamfieldsThe RSPCA wants to track their owners down
“We managed to guide them out and I caught both of them with my rescue net which was a bit of a sight for the festival campers.
“I don’t think they were abandoned and they’re more likely to be stray because it’s farmland all around the festival site. They don’t have any health issues, apart from being quite underweight.
“With the fences going up a week before the festival starts they’d probably been unable to get out for some time and had been left foraging in the hedge. Someone mentioned that a third bird was also trapped, although we couldn’t find any others.
“I am really grateful to the festival-goer who found them and alerted us to their plight.”
Manchester Airport issues update for anyone flying today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Airport has issued an update for anyone catching a flight today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday.
In case you hadn’t heard, hundreds of flights at several major UK airports – including Manchester Airport – were disrupted by a technical fault at air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) yesterday (8 September 2026), with the incident grounding planes and resulting in numerous cancellations.
According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled nationwide, and many passengers were told to expect disruption for the rest of the day.
One of the worst-affected airlines was said to be Ryanair, with around 65,000 passengers affected by the cancellations and delays.
Manchester Airport issued its first statement addressing the matter at 3:15pm yesterday, stating: “We are aware of an issue affecting NATS’ air traffic control service at UK airports, which may result in delays to some departing flights from Manchester Airport today.
“Passengers due to travel are advised to check the latest status of their flight with their airline. We will continue to monitor the situation and share further updates as more information becomes available.”
Now, although the issue has been resolved, Manchester Airport has issued further statements informing anyone travelling today what they can expect.
The airport started off by saying that it is ‘operating as normal’ today, but that passengers are advised to ‘check with their airline for the latest information’.
Danny Jones -
24th August 2023 
