7th Tackle: Tears over ‘Gentle Giant’ video
This week’s viral video of a giant eight-year-old bowling through opposition players a third his size caused some painful consequences.
After reading insensitive and cruel comments on social media, the boys’ parents were reduced to tears.
To make matters worse, the boy has now been withdrawn from the team for this weekend’s game.
We spoke to a father of a teammate from the St Johns Eagles Under 8s – who compete in the Canterbury-Bankstown junior league.
The man also recorded the video, and now has deep regrets over uploading it to the team’s public YouTube page.
“We put all the highlights of the team’s tries there, but now we’ve made it private,” he said.
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“The fact is the boy only joined the team six weeks ago – and has only scored three tries. It’s not like he’s knocking over kids every time he touches the ball. In fact, he’s very gentle and aware of his size.”
The father also added there were no complaints from the opposition on the day, Moorebank Rams.
The video predictably re-ignited the debate over weight-for-age competitions, a model the NSWRL is trialing in some Western Sydney competitions.
But surely at such a tender age it’s too much to expect boys to play up a level. And especially so when they haven’t harmed anyone.