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'People aren't allowed to be themselves' - Ellis Genge hits out at England's 'private school mould'

Ellis Genge. Photo / Getty Images

England test prop Ellis Genge has hit out at English rugby’s “private school mould,” stating that it is stopping the sport from progressing.

“It’s something I want to speak about because my whole career I’ve felt like I can’t express my opinion,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.

“I feel like, in rugby, people aren’t allowed to be themselves. They’re so false and that stops our sport from growing. It breaks me.”

Genge was never an age group representative, something he puts down to other people’s perception of him.

“When I was 16, 17, 18, I never made any of the age-group teams,” the 23-year-old said. “I feel that’s because my face didn’t fit.”

“I’m not white middle class… I’m working class. I don’t want to put it down to race — I don’t think it’s about that — but I’ll put it down to culture. The way people are raised and brought up. There’s that private school mould.”

The ‘private school mould’ is what Genge believes is slowing the progress of rugby in England.

“It’s stopping the game from progressing and it’s painful. I have friends working on scaffolding sites back home who are quicker than Jonny May. That’s where football and those other sports have cracked it. Is rugby really grass-roots?

“When I was younger, I never felt comfortable sitting in the clubhouse having my chips and sausage because I just felt everyone was looking at me thinking: ‘Who the f**k is this’?

“Because of the way I look, the way I act, where I’m from, I get looked at differently to someone white and privately educated. What about attitudes towards people from working-class backgrounds?

“More people need to speak up. If we’re building from the bottom up then something needs to be done.”

Genge has been capped for England five times since his debut in 2016, earning his first call-up after his first Premiership start with Leicester.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Half-back depth is the flaw in 'Razor's' 4-4-4 Rugby World Cup plan

Well there’s a couple of distinctions here that are important aren’t there?


First though like I replied to Tk where does it say theres need to test vets, or proven reliable players? It is simply ‘test quality’.


Now, I have created a list that I think is test quality, so all weve got to do is upskill the missing pieces right? No. Razor might not mean to have given every player half a dozen matchs but he will want to have identified and assured himself that each individual is indeed test quality. So yes, plays like Darry and Lord may still be included in a few squads and used so he’s happy to include them as say 5th and 6th ranked locks, but that doesn’t mean he needs to go to the same level to ensure for himself the 7th and 8th ranked locks.


He might be happy basing performances off SR Finals, or organizing an AB XV match against a team like France or SA with similar locking depth (even organizing say Warner Dearns to be part of the Japan XV etc), and I’m sure they’re going to have a very large squad over in South Africa for two months.


I don’t think he is quite in the same predicament as SA to have to rest top stars. And this is obviously just goal setting, they’re supposed to be hard. As you can see by the context around this series, arbitrary targets like everyone getting some minutes are made. That could also simply be how he ensures he has met the 4. So hookers would be ticked, as he’s already used 5 at test level. If you looked at the Baabaas SA game you’d see Beehre performing like an accomplished test player, that already makes 7 locks with more than 2 full seasons to go. You take the point BA was making about Marshalls previous remarks about Razor want players to be able to play 3/4/5 different positions, that would mean if Razor was really happy with Finau at lock last week he already has 8 test quality locks as well, etc, etc.


TLDR sorry for the big reply, it’s just a goal, the teams not going to suddenly fail if he doesn’t reach it, I think theres many means and many players for him to be comfortable in getting 4 in each position. He’s obviously not going to be able to get 4 proven, hardened test players in each by then, no.

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