LAURA WOODS HITS BACK AT ENI ALUKO OVER MALE PUNDITS IN WOMEN’S FOOTBALL ROW

ITV presenter Laura Woods has defended diversity in women's football coverage after Eni Aluko said the women's game should be 'by women for women'

Laura Woods (Image: Getty Images)

Laura Woods has responded to Eni Aluko's recent remarks about her limited opportunities as a pundit.

The presenter's reaction follows Aluko's outspoken comments regarding her broadcasting career. Former England international Aluko was previously involved in a dispute over her remarks concerning Ian Wright's involvement in the women's game. The Arsenal legend subsequently declined to accept her apology.

Speaking on the 90s Baby Show, Aluko addressed the selection of pundits for last year's Euro 2025 women's final, where England beat Spain, pointing out that two of the six pundits across BBC and ITV were male. She said: "In the women's game the opportunities are even more limited, so the main characters of the show should be the women.

"Men should be part of that. I'm not saying anybody should be excluded, I believe in diversity wholeheartedly, but the same way we've played a role in the men's game that's a supporting role, you're part of the ensemble, you're never going to get the premium final games, it should be the same way for women's football."

"I think we need to protect the women's game in the same way the men's game is protected. What I mean by that is, and you've heard me discuss the journey of women's football, it's taken a while, it's taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get the women's game to where it is now.

Eni Aluko (Karen Robinson/The Guardian)

"There's a lot of people, including me, who have sown many seeds to be reaping what we're reaping now... TV, money coming into the game, investment, and it's still growing. From my perspective, we didn't go through all of that – blood, sweat and tears – for women to be second place in our own sport. What are we doing? That's my point, the women's game should be by women for women.

"Male allies should absolutely support that but when it gets to the point where you're the main character of the show, we're just repeating the patriarchal stuff that we've been fighting against."

Yet ITV and TNT Sports presenter Woods took issue with Aluko's stance. On Monday, the 38 year old made her position clear through a string of social media posts.

Writing on X, Woods stated: "Caps don't win automatic work and they don't make a brilliant pundit either. The way you communicate, articulate yourself, do your research, inform your audience, how likeable you are and the chemistry you have with your panel are what makes a brilliant pundit.

"'The women's game should be by women for women,' is one of the most damaging phrases I've heard. It will not only drag women's sport backwards, it will drag women's punditry in all forms of the game backwards.

"If you want to grow something, you don't gate keep it. We want to encourage little boys and men to watch women's football too, not just little girls and women. And when they see someone like Ian Wright taking it as seriously as he does - they follow suit. That's how you grow a sport."

Concluding her thread, Woods stated: "Here's a picture of our team at ITV. We won best production at the Broadcast Sport Awards 2025 for our coverage of the women's euros. Seb Hutchinson won best commentator too. So I think ITV got it just right."

- Jake Bayliss and Anthony Evans