Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The Prime Minister has once again criticized Ian Wright for her involvement in covering women’s football as she criticized pundits’ picks last summer. Women’s Euro 2025 final.
Former England international Aluko caused a sensation last year when She claimed Arsenal legend Wright, a well-known advocate of women’s football, was “blocking opportunities” for female pundits.
Offer offered an apology to Wrightbut the 62-year-old – who previously worked alongside the former Lioness as an expert – refused to take it on, saying he was “very disappointed” given the support and help he had given her in the past.
But now, speaking of 90s Baby PodcastAluko has once again expressed his frustration with the coverage of England’s triumphant Euro 2025 final, blasting the fact that four of the six pundit spots on the BBC and ITV had gone to men – one of them being Wright and the other Nedum Onuoha.
“In women’s football, opportunities are even more limited, so the main characters in the show should be women,” Aluko said.
“Men should be part of it. I’m not saying anyone should be excluded, I wholeheartedly believe in diversity, but in the same way we played a supporting role in the men’s game, you’re part of the whole, you’ll never get the premium finals games, it should be the same for the women’s game.
“I think we need to control the women’s game in the same way as the men’s game. What I mean by that, and you’ve heard me talk about the journey of the women’s game, it took a long time, it took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get the women’s game to where it is today. There are a lot of people, myself included, who sowed a lot of seeds to reap what we’re reaping now… Television, money coming into the game, investments, and it’s still going on to grow.
“From my point of view, we haven’t gone through all of this – blood, sweat and tears – to get women second in our own sport.
“That’s my point, women’s gaming should be made by women and 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 things that we’re fighting against.
“Now whoever it bothers, it bothers, but that’s the reality. I’ve always been protective of women’s football because I did a lot, I 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.
“What I mean is that I have never been to a major men’s football final in eleven years. I have been to three World Cups, the men’s Euro, Champions LeagueI never had that opportunity, and maybe rightly, I would probably say rightly because again, I think the guys should always be in front of me, the main guys.
“Last year, at the Women’s Championship Lionesses final, I’m sitting in the stands, I wasn’t on ITV for the final, Fara Williams was sitting next to me, Fara Williams has 170 caps [172 caps] for England, something ridiculous, I think she’s the most capped player, she’s sitting in the stands.
“The two broadcasters who had the rights to the match – ITV and BBC – on the BBC you have Ellen White, Steph Houghton and Nedum Onuoha, no offense to Nedum Onuoha, nothing against him, I don’t know if he played for England or not, but you are in the main panel in the final for England Women.
“Let’s move on 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 move to ITV and it’s Ian Wright, Emma Hayes and Kaz Carney.
“So out of six expert positions, two have gone to men. Meanwhile, you have 290 caps, whatever they are, sitting in the stands.
“I just told you that I have never been to a final. I will probably have a hard time thinking of a woman, a pundit, who has been to a major men’s final as an expert. I am not talking about the presenters, people like to confuse the two, it is a different role, it is like comparing a striker and a defender, they are different professions, I am speaking as an expert, that doesn’t happen, so something is wrong because I say it is still quite new when watching women’s finals on TV, why aren’t people like Fara and me there?
“It’s nothing against Ian, it’s nothing against them, I’m just saying generally speaking we need to be aware of it, because if we build a game where the limited opportunities are now taken by the men, where we can’t go into the men’s game and get the same opportunities, we’re stuck.
Laura Woods responds to Aluko’s comments
Woods, who worked alongside Aluko and Wright, responded to a video shared online and simply wrote: “Wow…”.
When one user commented, “Take it, you won’t defend her,” the 38-year-old replied, “No.”
