Genge and Odogwu condemn 'tick box' Benetton reaction to Traore row

England vice-captain Ellis Genge has called for action to be taken after condemning the weak response to the racial abuse of prop Cherif Traore by his Benetton teammates. Italy front-rower Traore revealed on Instagram that he received a rotten banana from an anonymous colleague in the club’s secret Santa and that other players reacted to the present by laughing, making him feel hurt.

The initial Benetton statement made no mention of punishing those involved and although the whole squad has since apologised to Traore, it was the Guinea-born 28-year-old who appeared on the team’s social media channels in the hope of bringing the disgraceful incident to a conclusion.

“No well done, absolutely right, ‘gifting’ a ‘teammate’ a rotten banana for secret Santa is not a big deal and a simple apology will suffice,” worte Genge on Twitter. “If there is no further action on this from Benetton then everything we have done for ‘rugby against racism’ has been a tick box for most.”

Stade Francais’ former Wasps centre Paolo Odogwu, who qualifies for England and Italy, joined Genge in hitting out at Benetton’s attempts to draw a line under the incident. “Crazy lack of accountability here, doesn’t feel much like ‘family’ making the person whose already suffered do the PR,” said Odogwu said on Twitter.

All Benetton players were summoned to the URC club’s training ground on Wednesday afternoon where they apologised to Traore and were addressed by president Amerino Zatta. “The meeting was an opportunity to discuss and understand how what one of my teammates did when exchanging Christmas presents is purely the result of idiocy and nothing other,” Traore said.

“I appreciate and accept his apology and that of the entire team. I’m happy with the gesture and I’m sure what happened will make the group even more solid. We are a family and as such we will continue to commit ourselves on and off the pitch, fighting, as we always have, against all forms of discrimination.”

Traore, who emigrated to Italy from west Africa as a seven-year-old and has won 16 Italy caps, brought the abuse to light in a post on Instagram. “Yesterday [Tuesday], when it was my turn, I found a banana inside my present. A rotten banana inside a bag of moisture,” he said.

“Apart from calling the gesture offensive, what hurt me most was seeing most of my mates present laughing. As if everything is normal. I’m used to it. Or rather, I’ve had to get used to it, putting on a brave face whenever I hear racist jokes in order to try not to hate the people close to me. Yesterday was different though.

“Thankfully some comrades, especially foreigners, tried to support me. Outside Italy, a gesture like this is severely condemned even in small instances and this time I want to say my piece.”

Zatta condemned an incident that has provoked outrage, although Benetton’s president has now also come under fire for failing to conduct a meaningful investigation. “I’m happy that Cherif accepted the apology, understanding the absurd stupidity of one of his teammates,” Zatta said.

“I am sure that this will strengthen the sense of cohesion within the group and that such a gesture will never happen again in our family.”