Laura Woods has picked apart Eni Aluko’s rant about male pundits in women’s football coverage after her attack on Ian Wright and blasted ‘caps don’t make you a brilliant pundit’ – here’s every word
Laura Woods has hit back at Eni Aluko’s latest rant about the role of men in women’s football coverage.
ITV presenter Woods criticised long-standing colleague Aluko for her attack on football legend Ian Wright last year. Aluko, 38, caused controversy when she targeted the Arsenal and England icon – a staunch supporter of the women’s game – alleging the Gunners legend could be hindering opportunities for female pundits.
Wright, along with the broader football community, was left outraged, with the much-loved star, 62, refusing to accept Aluko’s subsequent apology. Now Aluko has criticised the choice of pundits for last year’s Euro 2025 women’s final between England and Spain and raised a baffling argument during an appearance on the 90s Baby Show.
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Aluko, who played 105 times for England, commented on the selection of pundits for the final – noting that two out of six pundits across BBC and ITV were men – and claimed international caps should be a measure for whether someone is selected for a punditry role.
Former Chelsea forward Aluko 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 gatekeep the women’s game in a way that the men’s game is gatekept. What I mean by that is, and you’ve heard me talk about 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. There’s a lot of people, including me, who have planted a lot of seeds to be reaping what we’re reaping now… TV, money coming into the game, investment, and it’s still growing.
“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. Now whoever that upsets, that upsets, but that’s the reality. I’ve always been protective about women’s football because I’ve done a lot, I’ve invested a lot, I was doing women’s football when it didn’t pay to do women’s football. Now we’re reaping the rewards I’m like women should be winning right now.
“My point is, I’ve never done a major final in men’s football for eleven years, I’ve done three World Cups, men’s Euros, Champions League, I’ve never had that opportunity, and maybe rightly so, I’d probably say rightly so because again, I think the guys should always be ahead of me, the main guys.
“Last year, at the Women’s Lionesses final, I’m sat in the stands, I wasn’t on ITV for the final, Fara Williams was sat next to me, Fara Williams has 170 caps [172 caps] for England, something ridiculous, I think she’s the most-capped player, she’s sat in the stands.
“The two broadcasters that had the rights for the game – ITV and BBC – on BBC you’ve got Ellen White, Steph Houghton and Nedum Onuoha, no offence to Nedum Onuoha, nothing against him, I don’t know whether he played for England or not, but you’re on the main panel for the final for England Women.
“Let’s go over to ITV, I’m in the stands with 105 caps, so you’ve got two women, between us we’ve got 290 caps, something ridiculous, you turn over to ITV and it’s Ian Wright, Emma Hayes and Kaz Carney. So out of six punditry spots, two have gone to men. Meanwhile you’ve got 290 caps, whatever it is, sitting in the stands.
“I’ve just told you I’ve never done a final. I’m probably going to struggle to think of any women, a female pundit, who has done a men’s major final as a pundit. I’m not talking about presenters, people like to conflate the two, it’s a different role, it’s like comparing a forward and a defender, it’s different jobs, I’m talking about as a pundit, it doesn’t happen, so something is not right there because I’m saying this is still quite new where you’re watching women’s finals on TV, why are people like me and Fara not there?
“It’s nothing against Ian, it’s nothing against them, I’m just saying broadly speaking we need to be aware of that because if we’re building a game where the limited opportunities are now being taken by men, where we can’t go into the men’s game and get the same opportunities, we’re stuck.”
Yet ITV and TNT Sports presenter Woods took issue with Aluko’s stance. Taking to X shortly after the interview began circulating online, she simply wrote “wow”. When subsequently asked directly whether she would back Aluko’s remarks, she replied: “Nope.”
On Monday, she made her position crystal clear through a string of social media posts. Writing on X, Woods said: “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 social media posts, Woods remarked: “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.”