A young rugby player trolled about his weight is now being cheered on by the sport’s biggest names and teams.
Wales’ Louis Rees-Zammit, Jonathan Davies and Liam Williams and England prop Joe Marler are just some of the stars backing 11-year-old player Alfie Pugsley.
The amazing worldwide outpouring of solidarity for the lad was sparked by his dad Mark’s response to a Facebook comment.
Mark had uploaded a picture of Alfie playing for Oakdale RFC near Blackwood, Caerphilly but removed it after hurtful remarks.
He said: “I had this one person saying ‘Your boy is unhealthy at that size’ and things like that. He was saying it was unfair.”
Alfie had been going to kids’ classes at the gym Mark attends and walking places rather than getting lifts.
Upset Mark tweeted: “Had to remove a post from Facebook as an idiot commented saying my boy is too ‘big’ to play under 12s and isn’t healthy. If only people knew how hard he works to get fitter and how low his confidence has been. Don’t worry Alfie I’ll always be your biggest fan.”
Among the 200,000 plus likes for the tweet were ones from the All Blacks and France’s team. The All Blacks wrote: “You’ve got plenty of fans down here in Aotearora too, Alfie.”
And the French said: “Alfie we’re behind you. Be proud of who you are, because you are amazing. Be proud to have the most wonderful dad in the world.”
All Black Jerome Kaino, a two-time World Cup winner, wrote: “Hey Alfie, you keep having loads of fun & working hard mate, our beautiful game is for ALL genders, people from ALL walks of life & also ALL shapes & sizes, keep that smile on your face brother & keep up the awesome work.”
Legendary ref Nigel Owens MBE has even offered to officiate one of Alfie’s games.
And World Cup winning South Africa star Tendai Mtawarira, known as The Beast due to his size, said: “I walked this road too once upon a time, when people silently bullied me about my size and questioned if I was the correct age for my age group.
“Keep your head high and never let the haters get to you. The game of rugby is for all.”
Mark said Alfie, who wants to be a chef, is “loving” all of the supportive comments.
