Laura Woods hits back after Eni Aluko’s comments over male pundits in women’s football

Laura Woods hits back via social media after Eni Aluko’s recent comments made over male pundits in women’s football.

The ITV presenter, who has worked with both Aluko and Wright, said that Aluko’s phrase “the women’s game should be by women for women” was one of the most damaging she’s heard.

She also posted a photo of her own ITV team’s success, including awards for Women’s Euros coverage, to show that inclusive approaches work better for expanding the audience.

Eni previously called out Wright’s role as a pundit in women’s football, accusing him of “dominating” the space and blocking opportunities for female broadcasters.

Since then, she apologised to Wright, which he publicly rejected, and now she has doubled down on her views during a recent appearance on the 90s Baby Show podcast.

Eni Aluko is at it again… 🤦‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/cETOkuPTVk

— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) February 7, 2026

Laura tweeted: 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.

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.

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 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.

‘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.’

When asked if the solution is to bring in more female pundits for high-profile matches in the men’s game, Aluko replied: ‘I think that would make it more fair.

‘If I’m not doing the women’s final but I’m getting a job doing the men’s final then it is what it is, but I can never do the men’s final so the only way I have an opportunity is to do the women’s final but now I can’t do the women’s final, and I can’t bring all of that experience and insight.

‘And let’s be honest, what I represent for young girls who want to be footballers, who want to be broadcasters, is way more than what Ian Wright represents.

‘Again, I’m not knocking Ian Wright, it’s not even about him, it could be any man, it’s really important we keep an eye on the premium opportunities. It’s hard, I don’t want to go into it because people might write headlines, but the issue I have with Ian is that I think in his position he needs to clock what I’m saying.’

Laura Woods, who has previously worked with both Aluko and Wright, replied to a video shared online and simply wrote, “Wow…”.

And when a user put it to her, “take it you won’t defend her”, she said, “Nope”.

Here’s how social media users reacted, after Laura Woods hits back at Eni Aluko’s comments over male pundits in women’s football…

@RobinNestBCFC: You don’t get opportunities by complaining about other people getting them instead of you. You get them through hard work on the attributes that matter until people notice you

@BlackScarfMarc: “how likeable you are” is huge. Slagging off everyone because you believe you’re entitled to take their place – no matter how engaging they are or what good they’ve done for the game – doesn’t make people warm to you. You’d think the penny would drop. Clearly it never will.

@pmal5098: Completely agree. Punditry is a skill, not a medal count. If women’s football is serious about growth, it cannot afford cultural gatekeeping. Broad appeal matters, and when respected figures engage properly, audiences follow. That’s how you build something lasting.

@ToonPolls: Great to see @laura_woodsy take down that insufferable Eni Aluko so articulately. She’s absolutely bang on with everything she says. Absolutely loved the little “how likeable you are” jibe too 🤣🤣🤣

@GoonerHillsy: Addressed it perfectly. It really is about being informative, knowledgeable, unbiased and likeable. Now, If only someone would take Laura’s excellent words and use them to address one or two of the men commentators and pundits also. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

@dan_villafan: Every. Single. Word. Doesn’t even need to mention names but we all know who this is about.

@DPW1983pvfc: Nail on head 👏🏻

@Daniely79: Hard to argue with this. Even as a spurs fan we love Wrighty and having a daughter playing football at a decent level it’s encouraging to see the game going forward positively with someone like Ian Championing it. Long may that continue

@DebsHLUFC: Ian Wright is such a natural, he knows what he’s on about and the enthusiasm of a fan. Helps bring the game to everyone. Have a go at Ian and you’ll alienate yourself – again.