27-05-2025
I told Ellis Genge: ‘If I can overcome adversity, so can you'
The sign on the gate at Bristol Bears' training centre is unequivocal: 'You are entering Bear country.' It conjures images of wild beasts roaming loose.
And 'wild' is an adjective that Bristol prop Ellis Genge has freely admitted pertained to him in the past. As an untamed teenager he was fiery, unruly and unfocused, a product of his background in the Bristol suburb of Knowle West and someone who could easily have gone off the rails if he hadn't been introduced to rugby while he was still at school.
'I like the abrasive part of the game,' Genge explains. 'I wear my heart on my sleeve. Rugby has done a good job of channelling that emotion, giving me an outlet.
'It has also shaped me as a man. Character means a great deal to me. Rugby has brought out my best traits.'
The fact that he was able to get his life on track is due in no small part to him meeting Lloyd Russell, a first-generation son of Windrush immigrants from Jamaica, when the latter was a community worker at a secondary school in Bristol. Russell may be small in stature but he has a giant reputation.
'Lloyd played a massive role in me growing into a man, to be honest.' Genge explains. 'I first came across him when I was 13. The biggest impact he had on me is how you can carry yourself. When I was young, I wanted to show how hard I was, how nasty I was and that I was a bit of a villain.
'Lloyd was very good at breaking down that barrier and showing me that you don't have to carry yourself in that way to show what you are about.'
Genge was reunited with Russell as part of the Gallagher Touchline Academy initiative, for which the Bristol prop has been named as an ambassador.
The programme is designed to empower teachers to teach rugby lessons in schools by providing them with training and ready-made lesson plans. Created in partnership with Gallagher Premiership Rugby clubs, Gallagher Touchline Academy aims to get more children playing rugby in schools and usher in the next generation of players. Making the game more accessible to young people is a cause that is close to Genge's heart, which is why he supports the initiative.
'Rugby has a brilliant way of bringing out the best in people: the way it drives you, the positions it puts you in.
'Discipline, honour, respect, teamwork, the sense of value it gives you because everybody has a role to play. What that can do for kids, if they are going off the rails, is priceless. It gives them a sense of belonging and sometimes that's all kids want and need. I know from my experience – I felt comfortable at a rugby club, not so much at school.'
Genge was being interviewed about the project when his former mentor Russell, crept up unnoticed and tapped him on the shoulder. The surprise was complete, the embrace warm and touching.
Russell himself had been a talented sportsman in his youth, especially at rugby, but came up against discrimination and barriers. He was determined to overcome them and when he did, he pledged to use his experiences to help the next generation. His personal journey ensured he had credibility with those like Genge who lived on the edge.
'I fact-checked everything through people who knew of him. It soon became apparent he was the real deal, so it was easy to open up with him about things. Stuff I wouldn't talk to anybody else about,' Genge says of Russell. 'He didn't bat an eyelid, whereas before I had teachers who had breakdowns in front of me because they didn't like the way I was making them feel.
'I think I could be quite intimidating, but Lloyd didn't feel any of that, he was used to being around people like me. I was a fiery, fiery teenager going through a very hormonal period of my life. Lloyd was a very calming presence.'
After attending a predominantly all-white school Russell had become an apprentice with British Aerospace at Filton, until he realised that sport and coaching gave him a greater sense of fulfilment.
'At that time of my life I was always fit, always training, always doing some kind of sport. For a good while, I was disillusioned with rugby because it seemed to be so selective, so I went to karate and that propelled me into taking sport seriously and sport putting a stamp on me as an individual [Russell became an English and British karate champion].
'I set up a karate club for young people. I was committed to helping young people by then; it's what I wanted to do. In 2000 I left British Aerospace to get into education to help young people.
'I was particularly concerned for young people of ethnic background. My philosophy being that if I can do it, so can you. Sometimes you have to put things aside, disadvantages and just get on with your journey.'
He met Genge through his role as the senior mentor with the Caribbean Learning Federation which worked in many schools across Bristol. One of them was the John Cabot Academy which is where he came across the angry young man that was Genge.
'As the weeks went on, I got him to trust me. I told him about my life story and background in a tough inner-city environment. He identified with that,' Russell says. 'That was the start of a good relationship. He started to trust me and that's a big part of his background; he has to trust you to believe in you.
'I showed him some old photographs of my family and friends when I was his age and used my favourite line, 'If I can do it, so can you.''
Genge was playing for Old Redcliffians juniors at the time, a club to which he and Russell pay considerable tribute for their part in developing him as a player.
Russell continues: 'There was a lot of anger bubbling close to the surface. Every weekend it seemed he would be getting into some kind of scrape and he would have a black eye here, a black eye there.
'It became a kind of stepfather and son relationship. Above all else, he trusted me as an adult. As an adult, you haven't got a God-given right to be trusted by a youngster. '
Genge progressed to join Hartpury College, going on to play for Bristol, Leicester and England. Returning to the Bears was, in Russell's opinion, a significant turning point.
'I've always been proud of his achievements. I remember the first day at Hartpury, he phoned me and said he didn't want to be there; they weren't his kind of people.
'But I told him a rugby ball doesn't know where you are from – it makes no difference to you as a player and a person. Do the best you can and see what happens.
'When he got capped by England, it was glory time for me! He's probably my best biggest success story in so many ways. He is from such a similar background to me and I always felt I had to prove myself. I've been in environments where I was the only black person and you always have to be better and prove yourself.'
The two stay in close touch and when Russell suffered from cancer, Genge, who calls his former mentor one of the family, was the first on the phone to him.
Having benefited from mentoring when he was a student, the Gallagher Touchline Academy is vitally important for Genge. 'My advice to any teacher tempted is go for it, but don't try to reinvent the wheel.'
Russell also believes the initiative could give the future of the sport a boost: 'There is a great role for these teachers to play. There are many other Ellis Genges out there, but you need the teachers and mentors to identify them and help them at that crucial early stage. That talent needs to be nurtured and mentored.
'Ellis is now doing a bit of that himself, giving back. I call him the Robin Hood of Knowle West. He draws them like a magnet.'
Does Genge see himself as a role model?
'I have responsibility. I'd much rather use that word than say I am a role model. I am very aware I make an impact on young kids' lives and if that is being a role model, brilliant.'
Watch the moments that Ellis Genge, Christian Wade and Marcus Smith were surprised by their teachers and mentors.
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