Former 1980s pop star and model, Samantha Fox, claims she used to be a winger for Arsenal Ladies.

Most of us know Samantha Fox for her catchy pop songs (or her page 3 days before that) so I’ll admit I was a little surprised to read in her interview for the Guardian that she used to be a footballer.

Despite being diagnosed with Perthes’ disease, a condition affecting the hip joint in children, Samantha has revealed that not only did she go on to swim for her school, she even played for Arsenal Ladies.

“I never got to ride my first bike,” Samantha said. “Straight after my dad bought me it I was diagnosed with Perthes’ disease. I had to wear callipers for two years, but when they came off I went into sports in a big way – I swam for the school, won gymnastics awards and ended up playing as a winger for Arsenal Ladies.”

Samantha was born in April 1966 and Arsenal Ladies weren’t formed until 1987. This means she would have been at least 21 when she played for them.

Fox worked as a page-3 model from 1983-87 and then became a singer, so presumably she played football once this new chapter of her life started. Records from that time are hard to come by and even our resident women’s football expert, who knows just about everything there is to know, couldn’t say with any certainty if Fox’s claims were true.

Arsenal Ladies, as they were known as the time, were far more lowkey than they are now, so it’s completely understandable that we haven’t already heard about her exploits in red and white.

Born in Mile End, Samantha is a Gooner. As you can see below, she took to Twitter ahead of the FA Cup final in 2014 to cheer on her team.

Who actually knew that Arsenal was genuinely her team at one stage?

It is worth nothing that this seems to be the only time Fox has mentioned playing for Arsenal ladies as we could find nothing online to back up this claim. We even checked with our resident women’s team expert who has followed the team around the world.

He had never heard about it either.