Mary Earps believes Joey Barton's sexist views reveal 'what people across the country think' with the England and Man United keeper one of his targets after she won BBC prize

Earps believes Barton's views are 'reflective of society' in the UK and beyond Barton took aim at her after she won BBC Sports Personality of the Year award A lap of honour for a win, apologising when you lose... When did it come to this? Listen to the It's All Kicking Off podcast 

England goalkeeper Mary Earps believes the sexist views espoused by Joey Barton are sadly ‘reflective of society’.

Barton has been widely condemned – including by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – for his attacks on female football pundits, which included comparing ITV’s Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West.

The former Manchester City and Newcastle midfielder has also attacked Earps after she won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Barton claimed he would score ‘100 out of 100 penalties’ against the Lionesses and Manchester United goalkeeper, saying her award success was ‘more f**king nonsense.’

In an interview with the March issue of Women’s Health UK magazine, Earps, 30, backed comments by Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes – indirectly addressing Barton’s remarks – that women’s football is ‘routinely used to dealing with systemic misogyny.’

England and Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps has told Women’s Health magazine that Joey Barton’s sexist views about female football pundits are ‘reflective of society’

Barton has launched a number of social media tirades at female pundits and other figures in women’s football – including BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner Earps

Earps backed comments by Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes that women’s football was ‘routinely used to dealing with systemic misogyny’

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Earps said: ‘Sport is a vehicle for change, but it’s also a representation of society.

‘The comments on that [a video of Hayes speaking] are really telling. This isn’t just what one person thinks, this is what people across the country think – probably in the world.

‘And that’s the biggest disappointment to me.’

Earps, who won the European Championship with England in 2022 and helped them reach last year’s World Cup final, said it was ‘hard to give a calm response’ when asked about misogyny in football.

‘I’m not sure an aggressive response actually helps our cause,’ she added.

‘That’s the irony of the whole situation and I think anyone who’s a woman knows that; it’s not just football.

‘I don’t think there are many women in the world that will have not experienced sexism and misogyny of some kind.’

When Earps claimed the BBC prize in December, Barton initially posted ‘Well done Mary’ on X, formerly Twitter.

England star Mary Earps was crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December

Barton was disparaging of Earps’ win and posted another tirade on social media

Barton slammed a ‘culture of snowflakes’ and launched a personal attack against Earps

Barton claimed in a follow-up post he would score ‘100 out of 100 penalties’ against Earps

Earps won the Golden Glove award for being the best goalkeeper at the Women’s World Cup

But he later wrote: ‘Sports Personality of the Year, more f**king nonsense. Well done to all involved.

‘So the best sports person this year is… A women [sic] goalie.

‘Lost in a couple of finals this year. Not won a sausage. So popular that Nike didn’t even sell a replica jersey before tournament.

‘You telling me all those who jumped on that bandwagon, haven’t voted in the BBC nonsense.

‘Good luck to Mary. Hope she make a a few quid.’

Barton insisted snooker star Ronnie O’Sullivan or legendary jockey Frankie Dettori deserved the prize more but ‘they’ve lost to a big sack of spuds that plays in goals for a girls team.’

He concluded his rant by saying: ‘That’s the world we live in. This all started with the ‘Everyone’s a Winner’ sports days.

‘This is what happens when you celebrate mediocre. You breed this weak culture. A culture of losers. A culture of snowflakes.’

Aluko claimed she had been ‘genuinely scared’ to leave her house after Barton’s tirades

Last week, Barton, who was sacked as Bristol Rovers manager on October 26, claimed he is being sued by Aluko for causing ‘extreme upset and distress.’

Former England international Aluko said she’d been scared to leave her house and fled the country after Barton’s social media tirades, in which he claimed female pundits ‘aren’t qualified’ to talk about men’s football.

Addressing Aluko, he wrote on X: ‘How is she even talking about Men’s football. She can’t even kick a ball properly. Your coverage of the game EFC last night, took it to a new low. Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, the Fred and Rose West of football commentary.’

Aluko took the moral high ground following Barton’s foul-mouthed tirade against her but, shortly after, Barton wrote another another post about the pundit.

He took to X to write: ‘On reflection, I feel I’ve been a tad harsh on Eni Aluko by comparing her to Rose West.

‘Had a bit of time to consider the impact of my words after @itvfootball big statement.

‘She’s clearly in the Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category. She’s murdered hundreds of thousands of football fans ears in the last few years. Meritocracy Rules!’

Aluko (left) and Ward (right) were both victims to Barton’s social media attacks after he compared the pundits to serial killers Fred and Rose West

Stalin was the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union for a quarter of a century, including throughout the Second World War and is known for his totalitarian communist regime.

Pol Pot, meanwhile, was another communist dictator who ruled Cambodia as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea between 1976 and 1979.

Barton’s previous post made reference to Fred and Rose West, who murdered 12 women and young girls over the course of 20 years.

The full interview can be read in the March issue of Women’s Health UK, on sale now.