10 Things You May Not Know About Maro Itoje
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One of the most popular players on the globe, Maro Itoje has achieved a great deal in both his international and club career, winning trophies with Saracens and England.
He received his first international call-up for England in 2016 and has grown to be a fan favourite. Here are a few things you probably didn't know about Itoje.
1. Jack of all trades
As a schoolboy, Itoje played several sports including basketball, football, rugby and athletics, representing England at U17 level in shot put.
2. Full name
The lock was born Oghenemaro Miles Itoje in Camden, London on 28 October 1994 to Nigerian parents, father Efe, and mother Florence.
3. Relatives
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Itoje is the cousin of Bath’s loosehead prop Beno Obano.
Gloucester speedster Ollie Thorley is also Itoje’s cousin, after his grandfather re-married a Nigerian woman who is the Saracens lock’s aunt.
4. Lion cub
Itoje was the youngest British & Irish Lion in the 2017 touring party at age 22. He defied his age to appear in all three Test matches of a historic drawn series against the All Blacks.
5. Poet
Itoje is a keen writer and wrote poetry having earned a scholarship at the prestigious £14,000-per-term London Harrow School where he studied from age 11.
He reportedly declined when Owen Farrell asked him to write a poem for him.
He then studied for a Politics degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in Bloomsbury, London at the same time as starting his rugby career.
6. Mentor
Itoje was mentored by England's World Cup-winning flanker Richard Hill. When asked who his mentor was, Itoje said: “Richard Hill MBE – he is a former rugby union footballer who played flanker for Saracens and England and is the England team manager – he’s inspirational.”
7. Art
Itoje is a lover of African art as he is presenting a group exhibition at Signature African Art gallery in London. ‘A History Untold’ (20 May–19 June) features work by six artists from Africa and the African diaspora – and is intended, Itoje has said, ‘to underline the importance of including more black history on the British national curriculum […], breaking down biases that currently exist’.
8. Model
Itoje has dabbled with modelling. He appeared on the cover of Tatler in 2018 alongside Prince William and Harry’s cousin Amelia Windsor while in 2020 he and his family were part of a Ralph Lauren advertising campaign.
9. Captain my captain
Itoje was captain of the England U20 team that beat South Africa to win the 2014 Junior World Championship final. Earlier in the same year, he had scored a try in every U20 Six Nations game.
10. Trophy winner
Here are a few awards Itoje has won:
(2015) Saracens LV Cup Winner
(2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) Saracens English Premiership champions
(2016, 2017, 2019) Saracens European Rugby Champions Cup champions
(2016, 2017, 2020) England Six Nations Winner
(2020) England Autumn Nations Cup Winner
(2021) Saracens Championship Winner
INDIVIDUAL:
(2016) European Player of the Year
(2017) Saracens Young Player of the Year
