How Laura ‘Woodsy’ Woods became the jewel in TalkSport’s crown

When Laura Woods announced she’d be stepping down from talkSPORT’s breakfast show in two weeks after three years at the helm, she told listeners she’d take some time before deciding what to expect — and for fans watching her meteoric rise. have seen , they are sure it will be something big.

Born in Epping but raised in Surrey in a family of ardent Arsenal fans, the 35-year-old presenter has risen to amazing heights since her first job as a runner in 2009 – and she can’t seem to stop, as she’s already tipped. to join the recently launched TNT Sport.

From presenting the weekday breakfast show from 6am to 10am with football legend Ally McCoist, to landing a top presenting role in ITV sport for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, she has gone from strength to strength and is now a household name for sports fans across the UK. .

During her 14-year career, Laura has worked on sports such as soccer, darts and boxing – and earlier this year she got tongues loose after a flirty chat with Anthony Joshua following his victory over Jermaine Franklin.

Having amassed a huge fan base (she has just shy of 700,000 Instagram followers), Laura Woods, affectionately dubbed “Woodsy,” has also been lauded for transforming talkSPORT from a boyish environment and bringing a cohort of female listeners to the station.

Announcing this morning that her last day will be Wednesday, June 28, Laura summed up the breakfast show’s phenomenal performance, as McCoist said the pair will be “friends forever.”

But the hard-working Laura has surprised her fans before by revealing that she actually had a lot of trouble in school and was even suspended once for repeated misbehavior.

She appeared on the Happy Hour podcast in April and said it was a series of rule violations that led to her being suspended.

She said, ‘I’m suspended [at school] for a combination of a lot of naughty things.

‘I climbed out of a window, but that was on the ground floor. I climbed out the window, I don’t know why.

“I climbed out the window during Spanish class, they closed the window behind me, and then I waved through the window at my teacher.

“But I’d do it without her noticing. That was the point, get out of here before she notices.

“And that got me in trouble, just generally pretty naughty in general.”

The star also recalled how she got into big trouble for going to the boys’ toilets, saying, “We went to the boys’ toilet, and apparently that was really naughty too.

“So those were all strikes that led to me getting suspended.”

It was perhaps no surprise that Laura was a daring child, as she had been an avid rugby player from the age of seven after joining the same team as her two older brothers – and being the only girl on the squad.

She told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I loved the physical side. The tackling was my favorite part. I was a rough kid. I was used to fighting with my brothers. I got the best player award when I was nine and it was the best ever.’

Fortunately, Laura seemed to have grown out of her ‘naughty’ phase and went to Kingston University to study print journalism, graduating in 2009.

She came straight out of university and landed a job with Sky Sports where she was a runner, beginning her career to become the face of many sports programmes.

She became a Sky Sports editorial assistant, then assistant producer, associate producer and finally producer.

Laura went from behind the camera to presenting on camera when she started doing the broadcaster’s behind the scenes interviews for Darts coverage on their YouTube channel.

She then got a job on Sky’s Game Changers, a Saturday morning children’s show.

From then on, she started covering NFL matches and then became part of the online presenter team for Sky Sports’ Soccer AM, broadcasting the Euro 2016 competition live on Facebook every day from France.

Just two years later, Laura was a field reporter on Super Sunday, often appearing alongside sports pundit and former Manchester United footballer Gary Neville.

In addition to a hugely successful television career, Laura took over from Alan Brazil in April 2020 as the main host of talkSPORT’s breakfast show – which had previously been a male-dominated environment.

Brazil was itself involved in a sexism scandal on the show when he discussed the appointment of a female boss at French Ligue 2 club Clermont Foot in 2014.

After mulling over the role of women in sports and female sports fans, Brazil said: “It cringes me when female commentators misinterpret players’ names.”

The comment angered many listeners, forcing talkSPORT to issue a statement saying, “Alan’s views do not reflect those of the station. We would like to apologize for any insults.”

Undeterred by such comments, Laura joined talkSPORT in 2017, hosting a 30-minute segment on the Brazilian breakfast show, before taking over from him three years later.

Her appointment brought hope that she would bring in a new demographic of listeners. She said at the time: ‘I find talking to men just as easy as talking to women.

“But I’m proud to be able to resonate with a female audience as well. There is a huge assumption that talkSPORT is only for men. I want people to be able to think, “I don’t have to be a man to listen to this.” Because you don’t have to be a man to enjoy sports. talkSPORT is a conversation for everyone.’

The fiery presenter has also spoken out about sexist trolls she receives online because of her work – but she’s known for her witty humiliations against anyone who dares to challenge her.

After she posted a picture of herself interviewing Gianfranco Zola online, a troll asked her when she would join a porn site.

Laura quickly hit back, “If your mother makes room for the rest of us.”

After announcing her talkSPORT appearance, she said, “If I post a picture on Twitter because I think it illustrates a point or because it’s something I’m doing, people say I’m begging for attention.

“Even when I got this job, people said I got it because of how I look. That makes me laugh. This is radio. It doesn’t matter what I look like.’

Only a year in the making, she proved it was her talent, witty humor and detailed knowledge of sports that landed her the role as the show won a Best Speech Breakfast Show award at the ARIAS in 2021.

As for her love life, Laura has only been public about one relationship – Alex Corbisiero, who she dated for eight years.

Speak against The sun in June 2020 Laura explained, ‘My last relationship was eight years and I was almost 30 when we broke up. It was my decision, it was the right one and I have never regretted it.

“We had been living in each other’s pockets and breaking up with him felt like we were taking a breather. The next thing for us was probably getting married and having kids. And I want that one day – I love being in love and I love kids. But I have prioritized work because I enjoy it and my ambitions are important to me.’

She added that she is “not settling” and that she will “wait for the right guy,” but also admitted that she “puts work first too much,” which gets in the way of her love life.

Laura continued, ‘I don’t use internet dating sites. I hate being tricked and I’m pretty picky – if I’m not in control I don’t like it! I’d rather meet someone organically at the pub. I don’t believe in forcing anything. I’ll know when it happens and until then it’s not an area of ​​my life that I feel like I’m missing out on.”

However, the rumor mill got going in April when she sat down with heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua after his victory over Jermaine Franklin.

In a segment for IFL TV, she asked the champion what he thought of her career and the two-time world champion replied, “I think it’s blossomed great, just like you.”

In response to his cheeky witticism, Laura asked AJ how many times he had been hit on the head.

Later in the interview, Joshua replied “you” when questioned about his dream date, to which Woods punched the air and told him “this is perfect!”.

AJ then joked about how Ruben Loftus-Cheek “got ahead of him” after the Chelsea midfielder named Woods as his dream crush in a recent talkSPORT interview.

Both parties confirmed they weren’t in a relationship after Joshua asked “are you taken?”, before the host dealt him a bigger punch than Franklin could ever muster, as she admitted “too focused on work” so far.

Laura announced this morning that she would be leaving her role on the talkSPORT Breakfast Show and thanked Ally McCoist and her other co-host Gabby Agbonlahor for their support and friendship.

She said, “Three years hosting this amazing breakfast show, three pieces of silverware for the trophy cabinet and record ratings. I am very proud of what we have achieved here. One thing is certain: I will always be part of this family at talkSPORT.”

She continued, “I’m going on a vacation, a long sleep, and I’ll make a decision about what’s next for me.”