Maro Itoje sounds warning over ‘corrosive’ impacts of social media after racist abuse of Ireland lock Edwin Edogbo

England captain Maro Itoje has lamented the “incredibly sad” racist abuse of Ireland lock Edwin Edogbo, and sounded a warning to athletes about the “corrosive” impacts of social media.

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is in after Edogbo was targeted by comments on social media having made his debut in the Six Nations game against Italy, with Ireland boss Andy Farrell declaring the messages “disgusting” on Thursday. Replies were turned off to a post on X, formerly Twitter, celebrating the 23-year-old first cap.

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In football, meanwhile, Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr was allegedly racially abused by Benfica defender Gianluca Prestianni during the two clubs’ Champions League meeting.

Itoje believes the incidents show that there is a long way to go, even if some progress is being made.

“The stuff around Edwin is obviously incredibly sad,” he said. “It's something that no one should have to go through and it's a further reminder that there's still work to do.

“ We have these incidents that happen which are terribly sad and they should be condemned with full force when they do happen.

“But with what happened to Vinicius Jr, 30 years ago, that probably wouldn't have even made the press. The referee would have told him to get on with it. His teammates probably would have said that to him.

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“So whilst the stuff we're seeing, whether it's Vinicius Jr, whether it's Edwin Edogbo, they are terribly sad and we as a community need to keep on stamping this type of thing out But I do also believe that we are moving in somewhat the right direction. But moving in somewhat the direction is not a given. It takes work and I think we all need to constantly remind ourselves of the work that we need to do.”

Ireland head coach Farrell had also earlier this week issued an emotional plea to what he described as “keyboard warriors” over their criticism of fly halves Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley.

Both England and Ireland’s players have access to tools that can filter out abusive messages on social media, but Itoje would advise all athletes to steer clear where they can.

“Being in public life in the age of social media has a number of challenges,” he explained ahead of his 100th cap for England. “Social media has been a force for good in many ways but it’s been a force for negativity in a lot of other ways.

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“I think it’s really important for athletes, as well as ordinary people, not to live their life based on what social media says about them. It will just be a horrible way to live your life. I would advise all top level athletes not to spend too much time on social media because it’s really corrosive.

“Both from the negativity that's on there but as well as what it does to our brains. I think we're going to see in the coming years a huge amount of damage that has been done to us as humans and as a society as a result of social media in terms of brains and brain development.

“What tends to happen is positive news tends to be extremely positive and negative news seems to be extremely negative and in reality you are always somewhere in the middle. If you just go with what the headlines say or what they say on social media, I just think it is a horrible way to live your life because you become a slave to what other people say about you. The bipolar nature of it is too much.

“As a modern athlete, you probably hurt yourself if you don’t have a presence on it. It is up to you ultimately, but you should definitely have some form of presence on it but not to be governed by it, that is the thing. All of these tools we have at our disposal are not inherently bad in and of itself. It is how you use it.”