Bullied 9-year-old Quaden Bayles has ‘best day of his life’ as he leads out all-star rugby team on to the pitch
Quaden Bayles, the nine-year-old Australian boy from Brisbane, who melted the public’s heart after a video of him crying about getting bullied went viral, has since only encountered great things.
Quaden, who had been bullied for his dwarfism, is an Aboriginal himself. And he has now led out an indigenous rugby league team in an exhibition match in Queensland against the New Zealand Maoris. According to Quaden’s mother, he had always dreamt of being a rugby league star.
The National Rugby League's Indigenous All Stars team invited Quaden to lead out the side for their match against the Maori All Stars on Saturday on the Gold Coast. Fullback Rabbitoh Latrell Mitchell, who made the invitation in a video, said, “We've got your back and just want to make sure that you are doing alright... we want you around, we want you to lead us out on the weekend.”
Holding the hand of team captain Joel Thompson, Quaden led the team out on to the pitch. He was greeted with cheers and applause from the audience. Quaden posed with the teams holding the match ball, before handing it to the referee. The match ended with the Maori All Stars winning the game 30-16.
Yarraka Bayles, his mother, said at a news conference on Friday that Quaden was “going from the worst day of his life to the best day of his life.”
It was she who had posted the video of Quaden crying that has been viewed millions of times. “This is what bullying does,” she says in the video. “Every single... day, something happens. Another episode, another bullying, another taunt, another name-calling. Can you please educate your children, your families, your friends?”
Following this, celebrities like Hugh Jackman, Piers Morgan and basketball player Enes Kanter spoke out on his behalf. A GoFundMe campaign to send him on a trip to Disneyland has received $463,327 from 12,261 donors when this report was published.