Being one of the most popular players on the globe is likely to generate an incredible fan-base, but we are fairly confident that there are some aspects of Maro Itoje’s life and career you are not familiar with.
Maro Itoje facts
1. His Name
His full name is much more of a mouthful. The lock was born Oghenemaro Miles Itoje in Camden, London on 28 October 1994 to Nigerian parents.
2. Other Sports
As a schoolboy, Itoje played several sports including basketball, football, rugby and athletics, representing England at U17 level in shot put.
3. Studies
Maro got a rugby scholarship to London Harrow school when he was 11. 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.
4. Dream Dinner Guests
His guests would include a footballer! He told JOE: "I would pick Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Jay-Jay Okocha. He's in there, my Nigerian brother!"
5. Nickname
The Saracens second-row is nicknamed 'the pearl'. He was given the name by one of his teammates at the Christmas social after he wore a cream turtleneck and the name has stuck.
6. Mentor
"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. What TV does he like?
Itoje loves watching period dramas" Downton Abbey, Mr Selfridge, The Crown – he loves them all.
8. Family
He 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.
9. Lions
The youngest British & Irish Lion in the 2017 touring party, Maro Itoje defied his age to appear in all three Test matches of an historic drawn series against the All Blacks.
10. Brother
His brother Jeremy was a talented forward who played for semi-professional outfit Loughborough Students.
11. Dating
The current England star writes poetry in his free time and tried his hand at modelling too. Maro starred alongside Amelia Windsor, cousin of Prince Harry, on a sports luxe-themed Tatler shoot for their October 2018 issue. Rumours in the press followed that the pair had begun dating, but this was never confirmed or denied by the second-row.
12. Feminist
He describes himself as a “liberal feminist” and tweeted his disapproval of the Daily Mail’s “Never mind Brexit, who won Legs-it!” front page (“Sexism of the highest order”).
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