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Laura Woods presents coverage of the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Liverpool at Villa Park, Birmingham, December 2022.

10 times Laura Woods was a national treasure: Glastonbury, pranking Agbonlahor…

Michael Lee •

Laura Woods has established a reputation as one of the finest sports broadcasters in the business – & has become a national treasure in the process if these 10 moments are anything to go by.

Woods’ time at talkSPORT saw the presenter win multiple awards for her coverage, including Best Speech Breakfast Show at the ARIAS in 2021.

After impressing on the commercial station, as well as her time with ITV and Sky, Woods has now taken over from Jake Humphrey at the newly-rebranded TNT Sports for their Champions League coverage.

We’ve identified 10 moments that show why the presenter is a national treasure.

Glastonbury

After partying the weekend away at Glastonbury in June 2023, Woods was unable to present Monday morning’s breakfast programme on talkSPORT.

“What happened to Laura Woods? Has she pulled an Alan Brazil here? What’s going on?” Piers Morgan told talkSPORT Breakfast after it was revealed Woods would not be making an appearance.

“The last thing I see is Laura Woods is on the lash at Glastonbury and the next thing I discover, no offence to you two, but I was looking forward to a nice little chat with Laura this morning and discover she is not there.”

Throwing a sickie to nurse a hangover AND to avoid Piers Morgan? Truly a woman of the people.

Bodying phone-in callers

With the best will in the world, your average talkSPORT caller possesses neither the wisdom of a Buddha nor the patience of a monk.

While the station actively courts this audience, dealing with such callers on a daily basis must be extremely tiring. So credit to Woods for giving this particular gobsh*te a taste of their own medicine.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

The standard Brit’s reaction to being told they’re physically attractive usually involves a mix of minor embarrassment, flustered responses and weak attempts at playing it cool.

And Woods’ response to Loftus-Cheek proves that she’s truly one of us.

Prankster

Agbonlahor was stitched up like a kipper in a bodybag here, failing to do his own research and believing I’m A Celebrity winner Jill Scott had actually appeared on Strictly Come Dancing because Woods told him so.

Rejecting the Celebration Police

One of 2022-23’s defining features was the rise of the Celebration Police, rushing to rule that anything short of a trophy-lifting victory as morally repugnant as players and fans attempted to snatch a modicum of joy from their fleeting existence.

Constable Agbonlahor, second-in-command to Richard Keys, cried foul after Gabriel Martinelli celebrated before tapping the ball into an empty net during Arsenal’s win at Aston Villa in February.

Woods shut him down majestically.

No time for O’Hara’s nonsense

The practice of ‘banter’, with all of its blokey overtones, can sometimes make you want to sit alone in a darkened room and reject human civilisation until your dying day.

But Woods’ response to Jamie O’Hara’s insistence on bringing Football Twitter discourse to national radio was a masterclass in defusing such nonsense; witty, biting and leaving your opponent a gibbering mess.

Social embarrassment

This is exactly how we’d react in this situation.

Professional chemistry with Ally McCoist

Listening to Woods and McCoist shoot the breeze in the day’s embryonic hours is the radio equivalent of chicken soup for the soul.

And their genuinely funny reaction to the infamous ‘porno-noise’ prank on the BBC in January 2023 was very ‘Test Match Special’ in its warmness and wit.

Importance of sport

In this interview, Woods nailed the importance of sport and provided the perfect answer to anybody doubting why kicking a ball matters so much to so many people.

Champions League welcome

Rio Ferdinand’s still got it.

READ NEXT: Ranking the BBC & ITV pundits at the 2022 World Cup from worst to best

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