A nine-year-old soccer fan was left “in shock” after an unwanted interaction with South Sydney mascot Reggie Rabbit at Saturday’s NRL match between the Sharks and the Rabbitohs.
After the game, Benji and his friends – who were wearing Sharks jerseys – saw the mascot walking towards them and were hoping to get a high-five following Cronulla’s 27-12 win at Sharks Stadium.
Instead of a high-five, Reggie Rabbit opted to push the youngster near his face, forcing Benji to stumble backwards before he was spoken to by a security guard.
Benji was there with his dad and had gone to the game to watch some of his cousins play at halftime.
Caroline Agius, Benji’s mom, told news.com.au what happened from her son’s perspective.
“From what my son Benji has told me, he was with his mates lining up there and they could see Reggie Rabbit coming up,” Agius explained.
“And they were all like ‘let’s see if we can get a high-five’.
“So Benji popped his hand out, as you can see in the video, and he went to get a high-five but was pushed away instead.
“He was then told off by a security guard for getting too close or for touching him, from what Benji said.
“Benji apparently touched the mascot and was told off by the security guard.”
Benji is a rugby league fan and plays for the local Cronulla Caringbah Sharks club.
Like many kids, Benji goes between supporting the Bulldogs and Sharks according to his mom and the family get to games “as often as we can”.
When asked how Benji is after the incident, Agius said: “He’s all right. He was more in shock.
“I’ve taken him to the police station this afternoon and they’ve told me they can’t do anything. They don’t see it as an assault.
“He was in shock more so and felt like he’d done something wrong, but I just explained to him that he’d done nothing wrong
“He was just there supporting football, enjoying it with his mates.”
Agius wrote a post on the “Everything Sutherland Shire” Facebook group asking for help, while the video you can see above was also posted to the social media site.
Both the video and the post have since been deleted by the group admin.
Agius has reached out to South Sydney and the NRL over the matter.
In a short statement sent to news.com.au, the Rabbitohs said: “We have been made aware of this incident this afternoon.
“We are investigating what happened here and will have no further comment to make until our investigation is complete.”
The club also told news.com.au it has now “reached out to the boy’s mother to let her know we will be investigating the incident”.
Coincidentally, Agius grew up a South Sydney fan and said her father coached Souths Premier League for most of her late childhood.
“I was around the Souths players, I was around Reggie Rabbit,” she said.
“So it’s a bit of a shock to see that this is how young fans are treated.
“It shouldn’t happen, especially to a child from a grown man.
“It’s not what you expect at all. You wouldn’t expect that at a family friendly event at all.”
When asked if the incident could have a lasting impression on the youngster, Agius replied: “I hope he bounces back because football’s a big part of our lives.
“We watch fotball, every game is always on TV if we’re not at the game.
“Football is important to us and especially him, he plays football every weekend for a club, he’s been playing for five years himself.
“It’s something exciting in his life.”
