The Women’s World Cup might have come to a painful end but we’ve also been treated to so many hero moments, none more so than Mary Earps’ now iconic penalty save — so this interviewer was understandably taken aback when he suddenly found himself interviewing her parents on a train.
COPA 90 journalist and presenter, Eli Mengem, was interviewing fans on public transport ahead of one of the Lionesses games when he just so happened to stumble upon a couple wearing a pair of women’s England goalkeeper shirts.
Immediately curios after remembering that Nike hasn’t been selling female keeper kits for this year’s tournament, he proceeded to ask them how they came about getting not one but two.
After initially playing it cool and not letting on as to who they were, the man and woman revealed that not only were they official match-worn shirts but that they were given to them by none other than Mary Earps herself. Mancs, meet Mama and Papa Mearps.
After her dad joked that they got the kits off Google and kept a straight face throughout as they were asked if they were big fans of goalkeepers, confirming that Earps is their favourite and is “a bit more classy” than the Australian no.1 Mackenzie Arnold, Mengem eventually switched on.
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Took you long enough — have you seen how similar she and this supposedly random lady look?!
Once he put two and two together, he promptly asked, “You’re not related, are you?…” and the pair confirmed their identities and revealed that they were in fact wearing the 30-year-old keeper’s kits from the opening game against Haiti and another from a previous match against the Netherlands.
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Her dad, in particular, kept up his sense of humour throughout as after being asked how proud they were of her achievements already, he simply replied: “We’ll tell you about 10pm tonight”. Oh, believe you me, result regardless, we’re all more than proud.
The Lionesses might have to wait a little bit longer to get their hands on a Women’s World Cup but they’re still European champions and absolute legends to all of us.
In what has been an otherwise very rubbish summer, Sarina Wiegman and her squad brought us plenty of sunshine.
Featured Image — COPA 90 (via TikTok)/Mary Earps (via IG)
Sport
Two Manchester Basketball players have been named in the SLB Team of the Season for 2025/26
Danny Jones
A pair of Manchester Basketball players have been named in the latest SLB Team of the Season for 2025/26.
The most recent UK Super League Basketball (SLB) campaign is set to wrap up this month, with the playoffs taking place down in the capital, but there are other awards to be handed out before then.
It remains to be seen how ‘The Final Four’ phase will play out at The O2 in London on 17 May, but we can definitely take joy in moments like this.
Announced on Thursday, 7 May, Manchester Basketball confirmed that duo Max Jones and Jordan Johnson have joined the rest of the league’s roster of the best players this term.
As detailed on the club website, “Max has averaged 17.4 points in the SLB in 32 games – he’s been a starter for the franchise and was also named in the ENBL All-Star Five in Germany last month.
“Jordan averaged 14.1 points and 5.1 assists in 30 games in the SLB, had a stellar European campaign and hit 30 pts in just over 27 minutes in the SLB Cup Final.”
Commenting on social media, one fan wrote: “Both JJ and PJ have been so great at the PG spot all year. I feel this is a joint award for them both, but they can only fill one spot for the accolade. If we wanna be a serious club to build upon year on year, JJ also needs to be in an MCR jersey next year.
“We absolutely have the pieces to build around. JJ’s nerve is sooooo cool under pressure. You can just tell they wanna loft a meaningful trophy, and it’s gonna happen if we as a club plan and build the way we need to.”
Plenty of supporters have also stressed the importance of making sure that the board tie down the likes of Jones and other big talents this summer; the rest of the Molten All-League Team of the Season for 2025/26 can be found below.
It’s also worth noting that teammate Tim Adetukasi and women’s team star Irene Oboavwoduo have each been named in the SLB’s British Team of the Year in their respective divisions for 2026.
Writing in a club statement reflecting on a great week of recognition for the resurgent club, General Manager Dominique Allen said: “We are really proud to be a club flying the flag for British players.
Both Tim and Irene have made a real impact on and off the court. We’re really happy for both of them that they are getting some well-deserved recognition.”
Well done to all the MCR stars who are helping get the franchise back on its feet following such a major rebrand across the board.
Here’s looking forward to another promising and productive year for Manchester Basketball.
Manchester City win first Women’s Super League title in a decade
Danny Jones
After a decade of hope and hard work, Manchester City have finally won the Women’s Super League once again in a huge moment for the local club.
Lifting not just their first division title in 10 years, but only their second WSL trophy since the modern female football era began in 2010, it felt like only a matter of time to many supporters.
Ending a six-year Chelsea supremacy, this is also manager Andrée Jeglertz’s first at the helm of Man City’s women’s team, who arrived at the club with a strong silverware record at the start of this season.
These were the scenes at home base as one key result sealed their status as champions:
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) May 6, 2026
City Women secured the WSL title following third-placed Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Brighton on Wednesday evening.
They even managed to do so with a game to spare and a six-point gap over the west London club, which has won so much over the past few years.
Speaking in an interview with club media after confirmation of the win, captain and Euro 2025-winning Lionesses defender, Alex Greenwood, said: “[It feels] absolutely incredible. “A moment – we as a team, me personally – us as a club has waited so long for”.
“An incredible moment, it’s an incredible feeling. I’m so glad we got to spend this moment together as a group. Just an absolutely incredible feeling.”
With fans watching both at home, along with the first team themselves, the celebrations have already begun as the team shared a look back at how they got here.
You can see the recap posted on social media in full below.
Commenting on his latest accolade, the Swedish head coach added in a full club statement: “There’s never been doubt about the talent in the group, but there is something else about talking about being winners and champions. We started that early, and we believed in that. That’s led us through this year.
“It hasn’t been easy; it’s been hard work every day, but we had a strong belief that we could be sitting here in May and be champions. That is the first thing, and we definitely deserve it.”
Congratulations to the Cityzens on a well-deserved and long-awaited WSL title; could this be the start of another sporting dynasty of dominance over in East Manchester? Only time will tell…
In other news around the Etihad Campus, the women’s, EDS and academy team stadium is also set to host the final of the FA Youth Cup later this month.
Danny Jones -
22nd August 2023 
