A nine-year-old boy, suffering daily bullying at his Queensland school will lead the Indigenous NRL All Stars against the Māori All Stars onto the field on Saturday on the Gold Coast as the sport takes a stand against bullying.
The mother of Quaden Bayles who has been diagnosed with achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism, has posted a video to Facebook in the wake of continual bullying at school, saying he has even expressed a desire to self-harm following the latest incident, Nine News reports.
Yesterday, the NRL said the Indigenous team in the Harvey Norman NRL All Stars series had asked Quaden to join them in camp.
In a Twitter video, the squad led by fullback Latrell Mitchell, expressed their support for the nine-year-old.
"Just wanted to wish you all the best brother. We know you're going through a hard time right now but the boys are here and we've got your back," Mr Mitchell said.
"We're here to support you and we just want to make sure you're alright and we want you around and we want you to lead us out on the weekend.
"Make sure you're looking after yourself and we hope to see you in the next couple of days."
Quaden's mother, Yarraka Bayles said she uploaded the video to raise awareness about the tragic effects bullying can have on disabled children.
"I have copped a lot of backlash for it, I thought twice about deleting it ... but I wanted people to see the effect bullying is having on my child. If I don't stand up and speak out for him, who will?" she said.
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