England prop Beno Obano says rugby has become more self-aware

Beno Obano (left) has been called up to several England squads but is yet to make his debut

Bath prop Beno Obano says the campaign for a more just society after George Floyd’s death in May has changed elite rugby for the better.

“Certain conversations I have had with other players, they just became more self-aware,” Obano told BBC Sport.

“It made people realise things they may have said or done might be taken poorly by someone else from another race.”

A former Minneapolis police officer has been charged with murder after George Floyd was killed in his custody.

Footage of Derek Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on 46-year-old Floyd’s neck sparked worldwide protests for racial justice.

As rugby returned in England after a coronavirus-enforced lay-off, both Premiership teams and the national team have marked their commitment to a just society before kick-off in matches.

Obano, who has made a documentary with Amazon called ‘Everyone’s Game’ about race, class and inclusion in rugby, external-link says that Floyd’s death and the protests that followed have prompted dialogue, in his experience.

“It’s been more a discussion, people wanted to learn, to know more,” he added.

“People wanted to learn more about how you feel in these times, and is this the case for you – everyone just cared really.

“It was nice to have those conversations. I don’t want to have too many of them, I want to talk about other stuff, but it was nice to have them at some point.”

Bath were one of the Premiership teams to mark their support of Rugby Against Racism by taking a knee.

Wing Semesa Rokoduguni, who is a serving solider, stood to attention as his way of paying respect while the rest of his Bath team-mates took a knee

Other teams chose different displays of solidarity, while some England players have decided not to take a knee alongside their team-mates before Tests.

“There wasn’t really a conversation about it, it was, ‘if there is a problem come and tell us, come and have a word if you don’t want to’,” Obano said of his club’s approach.

“Otherwise we will assume that you want to kneel. That was the stance and everybody wanted to, so it was nice at Bath that that happened.”

Fewer than 10% of Premiership rugby players are UK black and minority ethnic.

However, 35% of the England squad who made the 2019 Rugby World Cup final were, a significant increase over the past two decades.