{"id":282229,"date":"2026-02-13T13:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/282229\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:07:08","slug":"eni-aluko-row-takes-fresh-turn-as-ex-lioness-trademarked-name-just-days-after-ian-wright-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/282229\/","title":{"rendered":"Eni Aluko row takes fresh turn as ex-Lioness &#8216;trademarked name&#8217; just days after Ian Wright claim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former England international Eni Aluko submitted a trademark application for her own name just weeks after sparking a major row by accusing Ian Wright of limiting opportunities for female pundits.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old made her controversial remarks on April 23, stating: &#8220;I&#8217;ve worked with Ian a long time and, you know, I think he&#8217;s a brilliant broadcaster, but I think he&#8217;s aware of just how much he&#8217;s doing in the women&#8217;s game. I think he should be aware of that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She argued that broadcasting positions were scarce, adding: &#8220;The fact of the matter is, there is a limited amount of spaces available.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The filing came as the dispute intensified, with numerous prominent television personalities and supporters rallying behind the Arsenal legend.<\/p>\n<p>On May 13, Aluko lodged her application with the Intellectual Property Office to register &#8220;Eni Aluko&#8221; across four distinct categories, according to the Sun.<\/p>\n<p>These included media content, decorative and artistic materials, digital file printing, and a broader category encompassing media relations, promotional activities, advertising, and retail services.<\/p>\n<p>The application was reportedly published in the trademark journal on May 29, before official registration on August 8.<\/p>\n<p>Wright had responded to Aluko&#8217;s subsequent apology, posting on Instagram: &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen the apology on social media, but I can&#8217;t accept it &#8211; but I also want to move on from it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"f350f\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"26735ca13771dc9a207cb1013581c37d\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202000%201333'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/eni-aluko.jpg\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" alt=\"Eni Aluko\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Former England international Eni Aluko submitted a trademark application for her own name<\/p>\n<p> | <\/p>\n<p>GETTY<\/p>\n<p>The trademark was submitted through Crescenda Sport Ltd, her company, which describes itself as a sports careers agency providing internship and employment opportunities for students in the global sports industry.<\/p>\n<p>The former Lioness, who earned 105 caps for England, reignited controversy this month by suggesting she and ex-teammate Fara Williams deserved places on ITV&#8217;s Women&#8217;s Euro 2025 final coverage, which instead featured Wright alongside Emma Hayes and Karen Carney.<\/p>\n<p>Presenter Laura Woods responded sharply on X, dismissing the notion that international appearances guarantee broadcasting roles, writing: &#8220;Caps don&#8217;t win automatic work and they don&#8217;t make a brilliant pundit either.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The way you communicate, articulate yourself, do your research, inform your audience, how likeable you are and the chemistry you have with your panel are what makes a brilliant pundit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"d9bb2\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"fda541dc6a1daa0eb71bfce8b8e9e595\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202000%202932'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770988028_246_eni-aluko.jpg\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2932\" alt=\"Eni Aluko\"\/><\/p>\n<p>She argued that broadcasting positions were scarce<\/p>\n<p> | <\/p>\n<p>GETTY<\/p>\n<p>Woods also condemned the suggestion that women&#8217;s football coverage should exclude men, calling the phrase &#8220;the women&#8217;s game should be by women for women&#8221; deeply damaging and warning it would set back both women&#8217;s sport and female punditry.<\/p>\n<p>Aluko subsequently appeared on talkSPORT&#8217;s White and Jordan programme, where she announced her departure from British broadcasting, describing the environment as hostile.<\/p>\n<p>She explained: &#8220;I think in the UK it&#8217;s a very toxic space for me. And I&#8217;m fighting now to just even have an opinion. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is a feeling that I can&#8217;t say anything without the instant backlash that comes with the fact people have already decided they don&#8217;t like you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"be055\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"27a41ef21b4ce789b8c38affef444387\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201200%201600'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770988028_485_eni-aluko.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1600\" alt=\"Eni Aluko\"\/>Eni Aluko revealed she used to enjoy a close working relationship with Laura Woods | talkSPORT<\/p>\n<p>Host Simon Jordan offered a withering assessment of the former footballer&#8217;s media career during the exchange.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan told her: &#8220;I don&#8217;t think you are particularly enlightening, illuminating, engaging or charismatic. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The language that you use is, to me, it&#8217;s steeped in the sense of entitlement.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Aluko has complained of struggling to secure work since initiating the dispute last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former England international Eni Aluko submitted a trademark application for her own name just weeks after sparking a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,5213,111,43,139,69,51066,2022],"class_list":{"0":"post-282229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-sgg","16":"tag-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}