Paolo in the Times

[MarleyWasp]

Paolo Odogwu: As a black player I wasn’t comfortable at my old clubs – now I can be myself at Wasps

Will Kelleher, Deputy Rugby Correspondent
Thursday January 13 2022, 7.30pm, The Times

Paolo Odogwu will be back on a teamsheet for the first time in seven and a half months on Saturday, and the sport can be glad for his re-emergence.

For the 24-year-old Wasps back does not just break open defences, but perceptions of what a rugby player should look like, be like and do with his platform.

“I’m happy to be part of that — leading a charge of being yourself,” he begins, proudly showing his personality via his appearance.

For close to an hour he talks to The Times, virtually, from his flat in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham; his two dangling earrings sparkling away as purple-tipped dreadlocks protrude from his head.

The T-shirt he wears is one he designed himself, as the artist for a fashion label, Composure Club, that he started in May with his team-mate, Jacob Umaga.

Later, at Wasps’ Henley-in-Arden training ground, he playfully poses for photographs.

As part of a new generation of rugby characters, Odogwu is confident, colourful and unashamedly prepared to challenge age-old stereotypes by talking about self-expression, rugby and racism. But he was not always this vocal.

“I came from Leicester Tigers’ academy, which at the time was so regimented and strict,’ he says.

“You almost couldn’t have a personality, besides your rugby — you had to be the same person, stick to the same core values, wear black boots, not be too flashy, all that. There’s a borderline between being humble and being restricted, your personality crushed.

“When you’re 16 you’re finding out who you are. I saw a lot of guys lose confidence completely, just from not having any personal support. If you weren’t playing well in rugby, they didn’t really care.

“I’ve always been quite a colourful character. If I was there now with purple dreadlocks . . . I wouldn’t have been there, it wouldn’t have been allowed.

“Even in five years everything is moving forward, especially with this younger generation. It’s nice that people are excited to express themselves more.”

Odogwu, who never found his feet at Tigers or Sale Sharks before moving to Wasps in 2019, recognises now that he felt awkward at his old clubs.

“I was one of, if not the only, black player,” he says. “I realise now I was not comfortable. At Wasps, we’ve got ten or more black players, so many different cultures that you feel you can be yourself without any judgment.

“I can change my hair colour every week and I’m not going to have people going, ‘Why are you doing all this?’ You might have comments, but it’s not aggressive judgment, a dated mindset of, ‘You can’t have an earring’ or ‘You can’t dye your hair’. Here it’s: ‘You be you.’ I’m not doing anything disruptive, so it’s fine.”

As shown by the all-too-predictable racist abuse of sports stars on social media — such as in the summer, when the England footballers Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka missed penalties in the European Championship final shoot-out defeat by Italy — society is still stuck in old ruts.

Odogwu has not been outwardly racially abused in his life, but says racism is part of his lived experience. He has seen micro-aggressions in rugby, a sport he feels can modernise enormously.

“If you’d spoken to me five years ago it wasn’t something I was passionate about, you’re just a young player coming through, but then it gets to the point where you think, ‘This is my every day,’ he says.

“I’ve been that young, black rugby player who has been stereotyped. I don’t want it to continue. It was common for people to say, ‘They’ve got a black player, he’ll just be fast and won’t be able to catch or kick.’ How do you know? ”

And while commendable work continues to help alter attitudes in his sport, Odogwu believes that rugby is too often concerned more with ticking boxes than real change.

“Rugby does it a lot,” he says. “It’s very reactionary: ‘We have to do this, so let’s do it.’ ”

He saw that in evidence when Gallagher Premiership teams took varying antiracism stances before games in 2020: some took a knee, while others instead formed hearts or circles on the pitch, or wore T-shirts.

“Teams did everything but the one thing that’s universally recognised [as an antiracism gesture],” he says, as part of a Wasps side that collectively decided to kneel together — a symbolic act that now has curiously stopped before club games.

“It was not a political symbol at all, but people will only see what their Twitter says. If you see [people saying] ‘It’s a Marxist movement’, ‘They want to defund the police’ and fans thinking like that, then players will be scared to take a knee because they don’t want the backlash.

“With us it wasn’t ‘What are your political beliefs?’ It was, ‘Do you care about the black boys in your team?’ I’m not forcing anyone to listen to rap music, or dye their hair, just understand why other people do, and don’t just go against them because you don’t.

“We did that really well, and I was proud to be part of it. League-wide they had a ‘Rugby Against Racism’ slogan that’s on kit now. I appreciate the sentiment, but it doesn’t really mean anything — it’s not going to be ‘Rugby For Racism’, is it?

“It’s trying to appease everyone without being too controversial. It felt because they’d printed ‘Rugby Against Racism’ on the sleeve we didn’t have to kneel anymore.

“That’s smaller than the smallest sponsor. It’s barely there. A lot of us thought, ‘Do we not have five seconds before a game to do this?’ At least they’ve done something, but there’s always more to be done.”

Thankfully change is afoot. When Odogwu went into the England camp for the Six Nations last year, having bolted spectacularly from the blue, he was heartened by what he saw.

“I was at the height of my form, being myself, doing press articles about racism,” he says. “If the England environment was very white still I would feel pretty uncomfortable going into it off the back of all that, especially if it was the older guard leading them, thinking, ‘What are these people going to make of me?’

“With Maro Itoje being one of the best players in the world, Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler being in leadership roles, they are not just in the squad but pivotal players. That’s a key difference. They could be picked and could not have a say, but these are leaders in the team.

“Gengey was captain for the summer, someone who has had so many questions about his character, everything, because he’s not the stereotypical middle-class rugby player.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with him. He’s a great guy, a great leader, someone who will die for his team-mates. That’s the qualities you want as a captain. Just because he doesn’t speak like everyone else, isn’t the prototypical schoolboy rugby player, it doesn’t mean he’s not a good captain.

“If I was 15 or 16 and I was seeing Maro or Courtney Lawes captain England I’d think, ‘If he could do it guys like me can.’ ”

Wasps have missed Odogwu’s expression. One of a number of injured players returning, he will play his first match since May against Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup on Saturday.

While out, having torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, Odogwu has made strides in the fashion world.

The day before his injury, suffered when goose-stepping against Northampton Saints, he and Umaga released Composure Club’s first line of clothing. In October and December the pair ran a pop-up shop at the Coventry Building Society Arena for Wasps home matches.

Now fans of threads with a “streetwear casual vibe” can purchase bucket hats, hoodies, T-shirts, caps and beanies, all stamped with Odogwu’s signature style.

The duo want to hire office space in Leamington Spa, commission art, maybe even start a barbers and coffee shop, and have combined with the kit manufacturers Hummel to design Wasps’ European strip for next year. A white shirt, inspired by Real Madrid’s kit, will celebrate Coventry’s year as the European City of Culture.

“It’s got silhouettes of Coventry, a skyline kind of design,” Odogwu says. “Jacob and I are local, from Kenilworth and Birmingham, so if anyone was going to do a kit for the city . . . If we win the Champions Cup in it next year, it’ll be the first thing on our shop wall!”

Odogwu is desperate to make up for lost time and inspire a resurgent Wasps before he thinks about attempting to win an elusive England cap.

As we speak he has not decided how to decorate his crisp, white boots for this comeback, but rest assured, there will be a message on them. You would not expect anything less from Odogwu, a man determined to make his mark.

“I don’t see myself being a massive activist, leading rallies, but it’s something, no matter how I do it, I want to make my thoughts known,” he says.

“There is a long way to go, but if we continue to celebrate individuality it helps.”

[backdoc]

You lead by example, Paolo. That is the best way.

[Rossm]

Thanks for posting, Marley.

[hookender]

Thanks for posting, Marley.

+1

[Neils]

Yes thanks for posting.  Heard him say before about his previous clubs.

Wasps to have a Euro Shirt next season hmm.

[Raggs]

I love the fact that he and Umaga have designed the Euro shirt, yes it's an extra shirt that people will see as money grabbing, but no one is forced to buy it, and if our own players have designed it, that's pretty special!

[Rossm]

I love the fact that he and Umaga have designed the Euro shirt, yes it's an extra shirt that people will see as money grabbing, but no one is forced to buy it, and if our own players have designed it, that's pretty special!

Doesn't every club in the Euro have a third Euro shirt? I don't know if it's in the rules and, if so, why.

[Neils]

I love the fact that he and Umaga have designed the Euro shirt, yes it's an extra shirt that people will see as money grabbing, but no one is forced to buy it, and if our own players have designed it, that's pretty special!

Doesn't every club in the Euro have a third Euro shirt? I don't know if it's in the rules and, if so, why.

Wasps haven't had one for ages despite requests for something. I suppose recently our Euro escapades have been a bit limited.

[Wombles]

I think the most important and positive part of his article is that unlike his previous clubs it is Wasps and our culture that gives him a sense of belonging. The best performers are those that are welcomed, supported and encouraged to express themselves.  That speaks volumes about our club as Lol stated it has always been about the people not the location.

[westwaleswasp]

Really looking forward to see him back.
He has said similar before and seems to be a top guy.

[Rossm]

Paolo must have thrived (not) when at Sale with Steve Diamond

[mike909]

I think Wasps have always had room for all, on and off the pitch. I always liked that it was a club with a broad range of people from many backgrounds, matching the people I knew from school and growing up in W London near LHR, and playing sports with people from all over too.

It's to our credit as a club that Paolo can actually state how he can be himself here and it's a big part of why I'm a Wasp and have been since before the first RWC. Lol called it correctly.

[InBetweenWasp]

We're a club that has historically welcomed waifs and strays and this seems to have evolved into a diverse squad who feel at ease to be themselves.  It doesn't sound like there are any cliques and you regularly see pictures of the Toomaga-Allen's hosting big meals for many of the squad.

When you consider the diverse ethnicities, as well as Jeff (a devout Christian I believe) and Nemo a devout Muslim, as well as the seemingly free-spirited Jacob and Paolo it's encouraging.

[Peej]

You keep on being you, Paolo. Can't wait to see you back

[matelot22]

I must admit, and I think I have previously said as much on here, that I was against the taking of a knee, because of the political association with the BLM movement. However, reading Paolo's comments here has given me a great insight into his point of view and I can now see the value of the gesture as an act of solidarity with team mates. So, thanks for posting the interview, and thanks to Paolo for such a candid interview.