watch the birdie

She has a famous golfer for a dad and is on first-name terms with Tiger, Seve and Sergio, but Sky presenter Kirsty Gallacher is determined to make forge a career in the macho world of sport on her own terms

HATE beer," says Kirsty Gallacher, picking at a plate of pasta in a chi-chi west London restaurant. "I don't even like pubs." As if to emphasise the point Gallacher sips sparkling mineral water over lunch, and then orders a latte. She may be a presenter for Sky sports, but Gallacher is no 'ere-we-go merchant.

It seems that you can, after all, take Bathgate out of the girl. But then she only lived there for the first 18 months of her life, before being packed up with her father's clubs and shipped down to Wentworth where he was appointed as club professional. Her dad was a famous golfer, see.

Bernard Gallacher won his first tournament as a pro in 1967 and went on to become non-playing captain of the European Ryder cup team during the Nineties. He left Bathgate more than three decades ago, but Gallacher senior remains Scottish to the tip of his mashie niblick.

His daughter, however, is somewhat anglicised. "I support Scotland when they play England, but when England play I'm very much the English girl," she says.

Educated at St George's ladies' college in Ascot followed by a year at the London School of Fashion, she now looks to the west London manor born. In a sharp pinstriped power-suit with high-heeled boots so pointy it's hard to imagine them containing a foot, Gallacher gives off the air of someone with cash and confidence to spare. She has just turned 24.

After lunch Gallacher drives - in a spanking new soft-top that matches her suit - to the grim industrial estate which houses the drones of Rupert Murdoch's satellite TV factory. This is where British sport is processed, packaged and sold. With a couple of hours to go before show time, I wonder what preparation she is required to do. "Make-up." That's the first hour accounted for then, I joke. "No just half an hour," she laughs.

I wonder how an apparently flawless complexion can be further gilded, and later in the afternoon I receive an answer: lip gloss. If we take her encyclopaedic knowledge of sport as a given, it is pretty obvious that Sky likes its on-screen presenters to be presentable.

In the firmament of television stars, Gallacher is by no means the brightest. At least not yet. However she has appeared on kids' telly with Ant and Dec, and done a tasteful photo-shoot with Esquire magazine. And then there was the father-and-daughter interview for Hello! Whatever she might say, this is someone who is image- conscious.

Along with a square-jawed chap called Dave, Gallacher co-hosts the weekday afternoon slot on Sky Sports' 24-hour news channel. I'd wager that Dave likes beer and pubs, and is there for the viewers with similar interests to identify with. Kirsty serves the double purpose of adding a touch of phwoar, while freshening up the sweaty locker- room atmosphere of a sports channel.

"I get letters saying it's nice that I'm a normal girl who knows a hell of a lot about sport," she says. "And they always add that they like that I don't try to be a lad. That's much more attractive to men."

The recent bidding war between ITV and the Beeb for football highlights shows how important sport is to broadcasters, but in reality the rivals were competing for the crumbs left behind by Sky, which already has live football sewn up. To make this hugely expensive contract pay, the broadcaster has to turn sport into a seven-day saga where the details of every hamstring injury and transfer deal are studied in exhaustive detail.

Sky is not just catering for a national obsession with sport, but also creating one. Football and, to a lesser extent, other sports, have become national soap operas which are followed by millions. Sky is not simply broadcasting matches, but creating a rolling entertainment package that you can tune in to any day of the week, any hour of the day.

The selection of presenters who send out the right upbeat message are part of that on-screen branding exercise. Which is why bright young things such as Kirsty Gallacher, who can hang out with pop stars on Saturday morning TV, are vitally important. As she says: "Football is not so laddish any more. David Beckham is not a lad, he's a Spice Boy."

So Kirsty and Dave have been paired up as the classic boy-girl anchor team, which requires them to deliver the script in alternating lines in a desperate attempt to dramatise the news. Even when there is none. This is the multi-channel digital age, which is light on substance but knows a thing or two about style.

Today they are valiantly trying to make something out of the implications of an injury in the England football squad and the imminent appointment of a new Sheffield Wednesday manager. Wales are due to play a friendly against Brazil, but as the producer says, "I don't really care about Wales." This is the sporting equivalent of the instruction to drop the dead donkey.

So is it uncharitable to suggest that Kirsty Gallacher is on television because she is telegenic and has a famous sporting father? Well, no, not really. How many 22-year-olds are plucked from the first year of a fashion journalism course and asked to take a screen test? But to point out that family connections are a help in this world is hardly front-page news.

Her success, along with best pals Gabby Yorath (daughter of former Welsh footballer, Terry) and Kelly Dalglish (daughter of you-know- who) is part of a growing attempt to broaden the appeal of TV sport. They want it to be a little less male-dominated, while accepting the majority audience is still keen on beer and pubs. And girls in lip gloss.

The result is that Gallacher has an uncomfortable relationship with her fan base, who rib her mercilessly at football games and mean that she can't watch the game in the pub without a certain amount of mickey-taking. Unlike Alan Hansen or Andy Gray, you couldn't imagine taking her for a pint. She is also, it transpires, the target of rather unsavoury fan mail.

"I get letters with pictures of naked men so you need protection," she says. "I'm not trying to be anything I'm not. But you have got to be careful of other people's perception of you, there's so much crap that goes round. I've had people pry into my private life. It's juicy gossip isn't it? You tried to get out of me who I've been seeing."

Yes, I'm afraid I did, but without any success. However, we can say that Gallacher has dated a couple of sportsmen and prefers blokes who keep in shape to ones who spend all day in the pub.

"I've grown up with that sport mentality," she says. "I know the psychological stuff as well as the physical stuff. I know what they go through, so I'm attracted to men who are more sports-minded. I have been out on dates with sportsmen, but I'm not giving away any names."

Fair enough. But we can reveal that Gallacher has a soft spot for Spanish golfers. As a girl she would join her father on the tour and meet all the other golfers. Severiano Ballesteros was a particular favourite, occupying that role in a young girl's life somewhere between favourite uncle and something a little more hormonal.

"I always fancied Seve, actually," she says. "I looked up to him and thought, ohmigod, he's so wonderful. He's got more charisma than you can imagine."

And who would she like to play around with from the current Ryder cup team?

"Who would I play around with? Sergio [Garcia]. I know Sergio and he's brilliant fun."

Are we talking about golf here?

"I would play a round of golf with Sergio."

Then of course there's Tiger Woods who, by popular (female) consent, is the coolest dude over 18 holes.

"I know Tiger, he's a good friend of mine, he's the same age as me," she says. "He's a lovely guy, very down-to-earth. Oh yeah, and he's good looking. His dress sense on the course is great, all that Nike stuff. Golf has definitely become more trendy because of him."

Not like in your father's day, then?

"I remember my dad's awful Pringle diamond jumpers, I used to hate them. My dad used to tell me off because I would wear things like boot-cut trousers, trainers and polo necks. It was a bit too casual for Wentworth and he used to get really annoyed."

After leaving school Gallacher fancied herself as Vogue's correspondent sitting at the end of the catwalk - until she discovered the fashion world was insanely bitchy and backstabbing. Sport won, but clothes remain a strong interest. The contents of her car boot, for example, suggest a recent AbFab-style splurge. Prada is much in evidence. "I love going shopping," she admits.

But it would be unfair to suggest that Kirsty Gallacher's interest in sport is limited to labels and Latino talent. Her earliest memories are of her father drilling her to produce a decent swing, and she was a junior member at Wentworth. From her CV you picture the heroine of one of those books set in a posh girls' boarding school: captain of the swimming team, played tennis for the county and found time to play netball too.

"I've always loved football and golf," she says. "I remember my dad used to take us on the range, and I was always doing it wrong. He was always like that, a perfectionist. He said I could have been a lady golfer, but I just didn't fancy it." She just couldn't see herself in Pringle.

In the final minutes before Kirsty and Dave start their shift on the rolling news show, it's clear that presenting this programme is not rocket science. Research seems to be working out whether Newcastle United's new Peruvian signing will be over the moon in Spanish or Portuguese. This is followed by a couple of tentative attempts at pronouncing his name. My feeling is that if they don't know, the viewers almost certainly won't notice.

Having seen the Sky Sports machine from the inside, it's obvious that Kirsty is a small part of a giant, multi-million pound sausage factory for sport. But it's not a bad place to learn the basics. Of course the fact that she looks good on TV is important. Having a famous dad got her noticed. Being on first name terms with Tiger and Seve and Sergio can't have hurt either.

She recently appointed an agent who is helping shape these valuable assets into a career. Behind the lip gloss is a very ambitious young woman who is looking at opportunities outside sport. And then with the practised ease of a star striker denying that he's in discussions with another club, she says: "I'm just delighted to be here."

Copyright 2000
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