Laura Woods reveals favourite football match and brutal career advice she received
Laura Woods has opened up on her career in football
PA
Laura Woods has revealed the World Cup final last December was her favourite football match to cover.
Argentina managed to beat France on penalties, with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both starring on the biggest stage.
And Woods, in an interview with Karen Miller, said reporting on that match was the 'pinnacle' of her career while also saying it was the 'best game of football I've ever seen'.
"You had Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe and I don’t think you could have scripted a better final," she stated.
Laura Woods said Argentina's World Cup final win over France was her favourite match to cover
PA
"So to be there in person and watch it and work on it was just like at the time that was the pinnacle."
Woods has succeeded in her career so far, establishing herself as a household name.
And the Arsenal superfan has claimed she was given advice from a producer who said that, as a woman, she had to work doubly as hard in order to fulfil her dream of becoming a presenter.
"I always remember one of the first pieces of 'advice' I was ever told was from a producer," she stated.
"He had heard I wanted to be a presenter, and back then there was a real ‘Oh you want to be a presenter’ and I was like ‘Yeah, I do’.
"And he said: ‘One piece of advice for women is you have a much higher height to fall from, so you have to be better’.
"And It stuck in my head at the time because I was like ‘Why? That’s really unfair'. But it is unfair, it’s not a level playing field yet.
"The thing I took from that is, okay I will be better, I’ll work harder and do my research.
"What it actually did for me was it just made me a very good professional."
She added: "So I would say to anyone, it’s going to be very difficult because it’s very competitive but you have to back that you’re going to do all your homework and have your own ways of doing things and not try to replicate what someone else is doing because it doesn’t work.
"And also don’t be disheartened if you’re really bad at it to begin with, because everybody is with presenting.
"It’s so unnatural and your job is to make the unnatural look natural. And that’s hard.
"It just takes practice and you will fail and it will be excruciatingly embarrassing especially if it’s on camera.
"But guess what? You’re never going to do that again."
Woods is also buzzing at the support England's Lionesses received during the recent Women's World Cup.
And she believes the popularity of women's football will only grow in the coming years ahead.
"I started working on Lionesses games with ITV two years ago, and we did a game at St Mary’s and the gate was 8,000," she said.
"We actually had to close off some of the stands and make sure our camera didn’t face those stands as much as possible.
"Two years later the Lionesses sold out Wembley and it was for the Finalissima. They played and beat Brazil.
"It was honestly the most wonderful experience and just comparing the two different events, that’s how you can really gauge growth.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Laura Woods has shed light on brutal career advice she was given by a producer
PA
"Watching them at the World Cup and seeing the level of interest and the fact boys and girls are looking at these sportswomen as superstars and they don’t really care what the gender is.
"Leah Williamson said something about that. She said: 'If you don’t want to get behind it fine, but this is going to explode.'
"Women’s football in a few years time is going to be everywhere and I’m all for it."
You may like
