Out of Play
Former glamour model Amy Christophers aiming to defy the critics and become the country’s best sports broadcaster
AMY CHRISTOPHERS is on a quest to move from top glamour girl to sports broadcasting star.
Presenter Amy called time on a career where she was among the most sought-after models around to follow her real passion of establishing herself in sports media.
It has not all been plain sailing, and earlier this week Amy found herself caught up in the headlines as she was pictured among a group of women leaving the PFA awards with chief executive Gordon Taylor to continue the night drinking elsewhere.
That highlighted the barriers the ambitious 31-year-old has found herself breaking down, in the face of people saying she has no right to become a journalist after her exploits in front of the cameras.
In three years, she has completed her journalism studies, qualified to become a referee and is now broadening her knowledge further by studying the history of football.
And now she has set her sights set on trailblazing a path for women to make an impact in the notoriously difficult industry.
Amy said: “I don’t go into things half-hearted. If I aim to do something, then I aim to smash my goals. I did that in modelling, now I want to do it in sports media.
“Basically, I want to be presenting a mainstream show, doing a radio show and having a weekly column. That’s the ultimate ambition and I have to strive to get that.
“Women have a hard enough time trying to get ahead in sports, and perhaps I’ve had to work that bit harder as it’s always brought up what I did before.
“I understand and accept why people may have looked at me in a different way because of what I did, and know I may have to work doubly hard to show some that I really do know my subject and can do the job.
“It shouldn’t be such a hindrance. I have lost out on a few jobs because people just make assumptions that because I did that, I am a bit of an air head, or don’t have the knowledge.
“I’ve definitely had to go out there and prove myself more than I necessarily would have had to.
“It should be celebrated – that’s my unique selling point. I already have a ready-made following, who are mostly men who love football anyway.”
In her ten-year career as a model working under the name Brandy Brewer, Amy was a regular on the pages of magazines such as Nuts, Loaded and FHM – and she is proud of her work.
But sport had always been her passion, and at the height of her fame she decided it was time to throw herself into chasing her dream.
In doing so, she has already gone to lengths to prove herself capable and to silence the casual critics who assume she is just a pretty face.
Amy, who grew up in Falmouth, Cornwall, but now lives in London, added: “I have always loved my football and other sports, like cricket and horse racing.
“But I’m from a footballing background, the game has always been in my blood.
“I enrolled and became a qualified referee with the FA, so now no-one can say I don’t know my stuff about the game and the rules.
“I never wanted to be a ref, I just did it so I could see the game from another point of view.
“Seeing it as a football fan, every fan thinks they know everything, this, that and the other. The thing is, if you think you know it all, you know nothing.
“You never stop learning. I just want to have as much knowledge as I can so I can be the best sports broadcaster I can.
“I went out and did my journalism qualification so I could back it up. I have the experience of presenting live on TV. Because I went straight into it, thrown in at the deep end, I just absorbed all of the knowledge and am a fast learner.
“When I stopped modelling, I knew I had to be a little more conservative in the way I presented myself, I dyed my hair brown for a bit, and deliberately kept a low profile because I had to shake off that image.
“I think I have proven myself now, I know my stuff, and in the sports world I feel I am starting to be respected – although I have still got a long way to go before I hit all my goals in the industry.
“I’m pleased with my progress, and proud of how far I have come in the last three or four years. So now I feel I can start to bring out my more natural side, almost going back towards who I am truly am.
“I should be able to be taken seriously whilst still be the real me, wear the revealing dresses if I want to. The clothes I wear don’t define my knowledge, and they shouldn’t.”
Amy believes that the reaction to being pictured with Taylor highlights the issue people have with her past career – as she was just doing her job.
She said: “I was talking to Gordon about football – and future opportunities – just like I was networking the entire evening
“It goes to show the battle young women have in football. If I was a man or a 60 year old woman it would have been a non-story – but because I’m young and an ex-glamour model – it becomes a thing.
“These are the battles I have to fight working in football every day.
“Just because I’m blonde, young, and a former glamour model – it doesn’t mean I can’t tell you more about Harry Kane’s minute to goal ratio than a male football fan”