‘I was the David Beckham’: Model Sam Fox reminisces about her football days

The singer’s memories were sparked by the Lionesses’ win in the Women’s Euro 2022 final

Kate Ng
Monday 01 August 2022 08:48 EDT
Comments
Euro 2022: Watch moment England's Lioness lift winners' trophy

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Samantha Fox has revealed that she used to play for Arsenal Women’s Football Club, as the UK continues to celebrate the England Women’s team’s Euro 2022 final triumph.

The 56-year-old model and singer reminisced about her time in the club before leaving the sport because she was apparently too small.

Fox found fame in the early 1980s as a Page 3 model in The Sun newspaper, before she went on to have a career as a singer.

In an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) on Monday (1 August), she said: “Women’s football has come so far since I played. It’s just amazing.

“I was number seven. I was the David Beckham. I was a great player.

“The only thing against me was being tiny because the girls used to be so big when they used to attack me, I quickly learned to do nutmegs, which were through the legs and run around,” she continued.

Her comments come after the England Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 on Sunday (31 July), securing the first major tournament title for the UK since 1966.

They played in front of a record 87,000 supporters at Wembley Stadium, with the game also drawing a peak of 17.5 million TV viewers.

In the same interview, Fox also opened up about finding love again after losing her former partner, Myra Stratton, to cancer in 2015.

She is now married to Linda Olsen, who she met in Norway after the latter bought “meet and greet” tickets to a concert Fox was performing at.

“At the grand old age of 56, I mean, I’ve always wanted to be married, always,” Fox told GMB host Richard Madeley.

“I was nearly married before but something very unfortunate happened, and then I met lovely Linda six years ago and never looked back.

“Love at first sight, I would say,” she added.

The couple married on 18 June after postponing their wedding due to the Covid pandemic.

Fox reflected on the progress of marriage equality for LGBT+ communities and said: “It’s amazing that it wasn’t legal 50 years ago, because we believe that love is love.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in