'It's rugby's biggest downfall' - Ellis Genge believes rugby can learn from football's open-minded recruitment
Summer’s here but Ellis Genge is still hard at it. Leicester’s dreadful season is two weeks finished, but the legacy of last year’s serious knee injury is keeping the England hopeful busy. Hard yards now, he hopes, can lead to the experience of a lifetime in September – selection for the ground-breaking World Cup in the Far East.
“I will train the whole way through and we’ll see if I get the opportunity to get some time off, a few days away,” he told RugbyPass. “I’m working closely with the strength and conditioning teams at England and Leicester to see what is best for me. If I get picked to go away to this World Cup I want to be in the best shape of my life, so that is why I will be doing that.”
Fair play to his ‘must-do-better’ attitude. He knows Leicester’s worst ever Premiership season was horrible. He even tweeted as much a few days after it all finished with a thud on May 16, yet another home loss at Welford Road. “S*** season with mint people, thanks for the support,” he candidly wrote.
Relief was the word commonly bandied about as soon as Newcastle’s relegation meant Tigers wouldn’t fall through the dreaded trapdoor. It’s not a description rolling off Genge’s tongue, though. “Not so much relief, it just more so highlights the fact that that is where we were at as a club,” he reckoned.
“I’m happy that we’re not going down but more so now we can really sit back and think why we were where we were as opposed to looking at it as a positive, ‘Oh great, we have finished 11th so we’re safe’. We have to find out why we finished 11th.”
Shit season with mint people, thanks for the support.
— Gengey (@EllisGenge) May 18, 2019
Genge suggests he has “no idea” why the club fell so far off the pace. That’s for the powers that be to assess. What he will say is that some social media abuse it provoked was out of order. An aggrieved Leicester even went as far as contacting police.
“It’s like my dad says, when you’re winning everyone is happy and when you’re losing everyone’s unhappy. I understand people’s frustrations. I’m a Bristol Rovers fan, so I have been doing the same my whole life. I’m opinionated in what I have got to say.
“Everyone has an opinion, but sometimes just keep it to yourself. Some stuff that has been said to some of our boys this season is disgusting. It’s gone as far as threatening people’s families over a game of rugby. That’s quite substantial. But weirdly none of this ever gets said to our face.”
What Genge gets most animated about when talking to RugbyPass, however, is his association with HITZ, the award-winning Premiership education and employability programme that annually works with over 2,000 14- to 18-year-olds across England and has Land Rover as one of its funding partners.
As someone who endured rough experiences as a teenager growing up in Bristol, the now 24-year-old is a willing advocate when helping out. “It’s a programme I find quite close to my heart due to some stories the kids have. I relate quite well to them. I’ve met some great people in the foundation and some of the change that has happened in their lives is spectacular.”
He plucks one story as an example. “There’s a young man whose school attendance was very low, very poor. HITZ got in touch with him to be back in the school. I’d to give an award to him and he came up to the stage. I gave him the microphone and he sketched out and left the stage. He was really upsetting himself.
I’m taking now prisoners next time. @HITZRugby @LandRoverRugby https://t.co/YHoTt03XDX
— Gengey (@EllisGenge) May 1, 2019
“We said to him it was incredible what he had achieved off the pitch and for him to come up and take that award was amazing. I met him again six months later and he was a complete different person in terms of how confident he was, the way he held himself. That was all through the HITZ foundation.
“The Leicester Tigers foundation is another I work close with and some boys down there are now getting jobs after getting their grades at school. They are given jobs near the stadium and work experience. It’s brilliant, man.
“Rugby is a relatively middle-class sport but I like being able to relate to these working class kids trying to succeed through playing rugby and being involved in that programme.
“It’s not all about rugby, it’s more so about furthering these kids’ education to urge them to go back to school or start playing some sport, getting to work, not just letting it all slip away and using rugby as the vehicle for that.
“Everyone’s story is different. Mine’s probably a lot different, but I can take little snippets from how they feel and relate to them on a personal level. That’s why I can speak to them so easily,” he explained, going on to suggest rugby must cast its recruitment net far wider than it does.
“It is rugby’s biggest downfall. That is why football is doing so well. You see footballers today being so incredible at the ages of 11, 12 and you see footballers signing contracts so early. Everyone is like, ‘It’s ridiculous’. But it’s not. It’s just investing in their youth and grassroots in the sport.
Player Milestone ??
Big shout-out to @EllisGenge who makes his 50th @premrugby appearance for @LeicesterTigers tomorrow night! ?#ForOurPlayers pic.twitter.com/YLgztQE75i
— The RPA (@theRPA) May 2, 2019
“Football is looking into primary schools around the country, looking as deep as it can in some of these estates. I’m not saying every footballer comes from an estate, but I’m saying they are looking long and far whereas rugby over the past 10 years, I think everyone agrees, has been very narrow-minded in the whole scouting system.
“It’s starting to get better now, especially with this HITZ foundation, but I don’t think you can name me as someone who you can think off the top of your head that got scouted and pulled out from a working-class background. I actually got pulled out from a club taking me to different place in the country and changed into a superstar whereas in football they are countless names.”
He soon lists some Bristol boys who have done good. Cardiff’s Bobby Reid. Fulham’s Joe Bryan. There’s even mention of basketball and the prowess of his own cousin Greg Streete and Tyrone Treasure. “All these guys have not come from Bristol necessarily, but they grew up in Bristol and what they have done for their sport is incredible. It’s brilliant,” he said, adding he enjoys being recognised whenever he heads home.
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Is Rugby grassroots? #englandrugby #ellisgenge #jonnymay @j0nny_may @ellisgenge
“That’s quite touching. When I go back I get a lot of love. I try and keep my head down in most areas in terms of in Knowle where I’m from. I go to the snooker club and try and play a few games with my dad. I get quite a bit of attention there, but that’s certainly locally… I’m not quite David Beckham. It’s more so people coming up saying, “Mate, fair play, I can’t believe you have done as well as you have done’.
“People say you have made me do this, or my son with dyspraxia is now doing this because he didn’t think before he got told he had dyspraxia he would be able to play rugby and now he’s playing for Harlequins colts or teams like that. That is huge… people can really see an opportunity to get out of the area that we have grown up in via sports.”
Dyspraxia is something Genge remains mindful of. “If I’m not concentrated it definitely comes out, more so in small spurts, but I don’t actually actively do anything every day to sort it out.”
Coordination issues were what most affected him when younger, particularly walking. “I went through a lot of pairs of trainers, I’d holes in my shoes all the time because of that. I couldn’t do my laces properly. I couldn’t write properly. Things like that. That was what I struggled with.
“It hits people differently. It makes you lazy sometimes because you can’t finish tasks, your concentration span is terrible. So it’s definitely something to look out for in children. The awareness of dyspraxia definitely needs to improve and I want to be an advocate.”
Genge knows what he gives here will be returned elsewhere. “I’ve boys giving me advice and as long as you’re willing to listen whether half the time they are talking s*** or not, it don’t matter. If you take one thing out of what they are saying then that is beneficial enough for me.
“I wouldn’t say I will have one mentor throughout my whole career giving me advice. Kyle Traynor gives me advice. Danny Cipriani has given me advice… I speak to Joe Marler a lot. I speak to Kyle Sinckler a lot.
“People who are in my position and are my opposition giving me advice on how to succeed. Mate, professional sport is a frustrating game and it can be very attritional as well and it is not long lived. Every gem that you can take you have to take it with open arms.”
WATCH: Ellis Genge’s appearance in Land Rover’s latest Open Range episode
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments