There is a specific and incredible genre of news that seems to pop up with startling regularity: an abnormally large child absolutely destroying the competition in local kids rugby matches.
Well, it’s that time of year again, folks. Breakfast TV hosts are getting a collective case of the vapours over a video of an under-8s rugby match featuring an absolute unit of a seven-year-old tearing shit up while his opponents fly all over the place like battle scene extras in 300.
HOT TOPIC | Video of an under-8s footy player twice as big as kids his age has reignited debate about age/weight divisions. Thoughts? #sun7 pic.twitter.com/R67YFU9aBF
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) July 31, 2017
The kid, who plays for St John’s Eagles, was described as a “gentle giant” by his club’s chairman.
“This boy’s a gentle giant. He doesn’t just run through the opposition to hurt other kids,” Nasser Matta told The Daily Telegraph.
He’s aware of his size. He could pick up kids with one hand if he wanted to but he’s just a nice gentle boy. He’s a good kid from a good family who just loves playing footy. I don’t want the kid to think he doesn’t deserve to play footy because of his size.
Look, I see the arguments here from the Sunrise hosts that sometimes age isn’t the best indicator of physical prowess – especially at such a young age when kids are hitting puberty and growth spurts at wildly disparate times.
But by the same token, part of the joy of kid sports is that there is always at least one child who is supernaturally talented and absolutely demolishes the competition. Such is the joy of youth. (For the record, I was never this child.)
My take? I enjoy videos of kids getting absolutely rinsed by more powerful peers, and I hope there will be many more in future.
