Never too big to play in Auckland

Auckland Rugby has employed the services of a data company to ensure no kids are excluded because of their size or weight, following an ugly incident across the Tasman.

Recently an 11-year-old boy in Sydney was told he was ‘‘too big to play’’ and sent home, in tears, from a local sevens tournament.

The news made headlines across Australia and New Zealand, with many commenters online calling the treatment of the young boy ‘‘unfair’’ and ‘‘far too common’’.

It’s an issue in New Zealand too – a young west Auckland boy was allegedly similarly discriminated against and abused for his size this year at an under-10s match. The boy’s mother, who did not want to be named, said it had happened before and her son had contemplated giving the game away as a result. She did not lay any official complaints.

Last year, in the 13-man code, a story of sideline abuse of a nineyear old boy in Auckland was reported by Stuff. Parents heckled young Manase Uhi, who at the time was 1.70m tall and weighed over 110 kilograms, and demanded he be excluded from playing with kids his own age.

Auckland Rugby head of participation development Simon Devoy said the union had received no official complaints in the past 12 months relating to oversized youth and was reviewing its grading structure, with changes set to be formalised in the coming days to ensure kids of all shapes and sizes are able to play.

‘‘For us open-weight tackle grades begin at under 8s for boys and under 13s for girls; from under 6s to under 13s we have 20 grades in total,’’ Devoy said.

‘‘The restricted weight grades offered from under 8s through to under 13s help to ensure the safety of our smaller participants. Our priority is ensuring that those participating have a safe and enjoyable experience, and these processes look to ensure this.’’

The revised system will help to improve what’s already in place in Auckland, and was devised with the help of data company Dot Loves Data.

The new information would be used to ‘‘ensure accuracy’’ when the new grades were set for 2020 and beyond, and ensure no kids were excluded due to their size, Devoy said.