The nine-year-old footy player who is bigger than the pros: Mother of 110kg child claims he isn't too heavy to take to the field after he's sledged by other parents

  • Mother of a nine-year-old boy who weights 110kg has defended him from critics
  • Manase Uhi plays for the Otahuhu Leopards in south Auckland, New Zealand
  • Mother Sesilia said he has been targeted by cruel comments from the sideline 

By Ben Hill For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 01:10 EDT, 1 November 2018 | Updated: 01:11 EDT, 1 November 2018

The mother of a nine-year-old boy who dwarfs his opponents has defended her son from critics who claim he is too big to be playing rugby league with children his age.

Manase Uhi - who is 170cm tall and weighs 110kg - plays for the Otahuhu Leopards club in south Auckland, New Zealand, and when he signed up for the team three years ago he was 'really happy'.

'My first game, I scored, I think, three or four tries,' he told Stuff.

Manase's joy for the game has been tempered, however, by negative comments from spectators, according to his mother Sesilia.

'Earlier this year we were at a tournament and Manase got the ball and I could hear another mother, from the other team, yelling ''big boy, he's big but useless, he should not be playing here''. That hurts as a mother,' Ms Uhi said.

Manase is heavier than Australian Kangaroos prop Aaron Woods, but Ms Uhi said the youngster should be playing with others his age rather than against bigger children.

'At the end of the day he is nine years old. This is his grade and these are his friends,' she said.

'Manase is an emotional boy and I know it hurts him to hear those things. But as a mother I'm not one to get into it with fellow parents. We fight abuse with encouragement. The louder people yell nasty things, the louder I scream encouragement. That's all my son needs to be hearing.'

In 2016, Rochelle Mara hit back at 'parents on the sideline' who laughed at her 10-year-old son Eljae and called him 'big boy'.

Eljae was playing for the Manurewa Marlins, also based in south Auckland, when his mother posted a photo of her son on social media.

'Number 8, Eljae. My boy. The one you so freely stood on the sideline this morning laughing at,' the post read.

Manase Uhi, nine, is 170cm tall and weighs 110kg. He plays for the Otahuhu Leopards club in south Auckland, New Zealand

Manase Uhi, nine, is 170cm tall and weighs 110kg. He plays for the Otahuhu Leopards club in south Auckland, New Zealand

'The one you were talking about being a "Big boy" and not "an asset to the team."

'The one you laughed at for not being able to run as fast as your kid. 

'Obviously not realising I, his mother, was standing right next to you listening to everything you were saying - Until I told you.'

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Mother of 110kg child claims he isn’t too heavy to play rugby league

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