Kevin Putt: rugby commentator on the nine-year-old who was barred from age-grade rugby because of his weight

A 9-year-old Auckland boy has been told he can no longer play age-grade rugby with his friends because he’s over the weight limit.

The student was one of 106 children who applied for a weight dispensation in the Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union club competition - and after being denied, has opted out of playing any winter sport this year.

The union explained structures are in place to ensure player safety and fairness in competition.

Rugby commentator Kevin Putt says safety concerns have impacted other decisions made by clubs.

"You know that they've actually taken away tackle...they had ripper rugby going for years. We're talking now about an exclusion of an individual - they're trying to save the game as it is at the moment."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now rugby the nine year old. So the nine year
old Auckland boy, he's from Counties Mancal has been told
he can't play rugby in the same grade as his
friends because he's too heavy. This is the county's Manecau
club competition. He's fifty four CAGs but the year four
grade has a weight limit of forty five cag's.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Kevin part is a rugby commentator and with us.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Now, hey Kevin, good afternoon, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Apparently it's unsafe. Have they made the right call?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Look, it's not unnecessarily about the right call. They've got
systems in place to try and look after safety. There's
just as many of the kids that are on the
other end of the scale that parents are going, well,
my little lad's not playing if it's not going to
be a safe game. So they've got to have some
sort of bandwidth. I guess the argument is where does
that go? Is a couple of cage's forgivable. But if

(00:47):
I'm you know, I was one of those skinny little
guys that was sort of around thirty five kg's playing
against the fifty five, I imagine mum would have been a
little bit concerned as well.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Does I mean if if you've got a weight limit
of forty five, so that's the uppermost right, So as
you say, there might be thirty five little boys and
like thirty five kg dudes in there, yep, is that
going to make a difference that extra nine cag's above
the limit?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh? Look it does. Around safety, you've seen what's happening,
not just at the baby level that we're talking about
at professional level. Safety is the key thing. You know
that they've actually taken away tackle from the had they
had rip a rugby going for years. So please, we're
talking now about an exclusion of an individual. They're trying

(01:29):
to save the game as it is at the moment,
So I can understand if they had not given alternative
or some sort of compromise, then you could have a
real moan about it. But they said, well, hey, play
up a grade. Mum said no, that's not good enough,
my lad, And she's well within her rights. Well I
tell you what, in which case, go play football for
a year, get some good skills, come back and better

(01:50):
be a better rugby player. But if she had no
other options then it would have been a little bit unfair.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Hey, I'm Kevin, I really appreciate it. Thank you very
much for your time. That's Kevin Putt be commentator.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
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