Laura Woods has defended Leeds United presenter Emma Jones after the latter was hit with a series of abusive messages online for posting a snap on social media.
Jones, who also works for the BBC and fronts Premier Sports' rugby coverage, shared a photo on Twitter of her wearing a tight-fitted dress on a rugby pitch. She captioned her post: "Bets on how long this dress stays this colour…"
She was quick to update her fans on how the off-white dress fared on Instagram, sharing the same snap, she said: "This dress sat through a 3-course meal and came away unscathed. I don't even know who I am anymore!" However, some fans suggested she shouldn't wear the dress.
One response read: "How can you expect to be taken seriously as a football presenter by posting images like that." Another said: "On a football show, I would rather see someone displaying their in-depth knowledge of the game rather than sexualising their image.
However, Jones hit back at the comments on Twitter: "Thank you to the overwhelming majority of you who have called out the few misogynists & dinosaurs in the replies to this. Unfortunately it's usually those people who shout the loudest. I was hosting an awards ceremony & I felt lovely in my new dress, so I wanted to share it."
In response to her messages, Woods jumped to the defence of Jones and admitted she shouldn't stop posting images of herself on social media. She said: "What some people don’t get is…you're allowed to be both! You're smart and you're beautiful. One shouldn't and doesn't cancel out the other. I absolutely love seeing other people's glams, women AND men. And if you stopped posting them I'd be pretty disappointed tbh."
This isn't the first time Jones has written a plea on social media, after she revealed how she was left terrified after being followed while out shopping. In an interview with the Sun in September 2021, Jones claimed that he had to seek refuge in a shop and called for help.
She said: "I was shopping alone when a man started following me. I walked into the shop to get away from him but he followed me in and wouldn’t leave me alone. A security guard and every staff member saw and proceeded to remove him from the shop and kept him away from me."
