Hugh MacDonald: Allyship, History and Heroes of the Women’s Game: A Level Playing Field I Episode 5

A Level Playing Field · Dec 30, 2025 · 33m

Episode 5 of the A Level Playing Field Podcast features a special conversation with journalism legend Hugh McDonald, who joins Alison McConnell and Cheryl Smith to reflect on a lifetime spent covering football — and the long, often difficult journey of the women’s game.

Drawing on his experiences during a period when women’s football was officially banned, Hugh offers rare insight into what it meant to report on the sport at a time when it was largely ignored, dismissed, or actively discouraged. He speaks candidly about how women’s football was talked about in newsrooms, the language that was…