Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the man behind South Sydney’s Reggie the Rabbit mascot was accused of pushing a child on the weekend.
The Rabbitohs mascot landed in hot water after a video went viral appearing to show him push a nine-year-old Cronulla Sharks fan on Saturday afternoon.
Souths will formally interview the mascot over the incident, which came as the Rabbitohs suffered their first defeat of the season against Cronulla at Shark Park.
The man in the rabbit suit is retired panelbeater Charlie Gallico, 81, who has been the mascot ever since Souths were re-admitted into the NRL in 2002.
Albanese is a former South Sydney Rabbitohs director and knows Gallico personally.
He he said there was no way the diminutive mascot would deliberately set out to hurt anybody, least of all a child.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended South Sydney mascot Reggie the Rabbit after video emerged of him appearing to push a child
The man behind the mask is retired panelbeater Charlie Gallico, 81, (pictured) who has been doing the job since the Rabbitohs were readmitted into the NRL in 2002
Albanese said Gallico is a ‘lovely fella’ who wouldn’t hurt anybody following the allegations he pushed a child
‘Charlie is a very gentle person, he’s someone who is about this tall [gestures to show Charlie is short], and weighs, I reckon if he weighs 40kg he must be wet, he’s a very small man,’ Albanese said.
‘He goes in the Bunnies mascot outfit every week. He’s a lovely fellow. He’s 81 years old. I don’t want to talk about people’s height, but it’s a fact that he’s a very small man.
‘He’s been doing it a long time, he would never try to hurt anyone. I’m sure if there has been inappropriate behaviour he would be the first to apologise.
‘But he’s a lovely fella, I make that point.’
The prime minister said Gallico was regularly pushed around himself, often because people didn’t know there was an 81-year-old man inside the suit.
‘He got pushed a couple of years ago and ended up in hospital at a ground on Good Friday,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘From time to time, I know he as the mascot, has been pushed, whacked, you know, because people don’t realise that there is an 81-year-old in there.
‘So I’m sure if anything wrong has been done, he’d be the first to apologise. He wouldn’t want to hurt anybody and you know, I’ve seen nine-year-olds who are bigger than Charlie.’
The South Sydney Rabbitohs mascot, Reggie the Rabbit, appeared to push a young fan on Saturday (pictured)
The boy is a nine-year-old Cronulla Sharks fan, and is understood to have asked the mascot for a high five
In the incident, Reggie appeared to be making his way down the tunnel after the game but is seen pausing for a moment before appearing to shove the young Cronulla fan.
A security guard was then seen intervening and briefly spoke to the young fan, while the mascot stood and watched their exchange.
Sharks CEO Dino Mezzatesta stated that the NRLis aware of the incident.
‘We were made aware of the incident and both us and Souths are investigating,’ Mezzatesta said.
‘The NRL has also been made aware of what happened.
‘I saw something where the mother said the kid was in shock. It’s obviously an unfortunate incident.’
The boy, called Benji, was wearing a Sharks jersey as he stood with his friends next to the tunnel and had been hoping to get a high-five from the mascot,News.com.au reported.
Instead, the young fan was pushed by the mascot and was seen stumbling backwards several paces. He had attended the match with his father.
The young fan’s mother said he had put his hand out asking for a high-five before the mascot appeared to push him
The young fan had been left ‘shocked’ by the incident according to his mother but was doing OK
His mother, Caroline Agius, told the publication that her son was told off by the security guard for getting too close.
‘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.
‘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.
It came after South Sydney had suffered a 27-12 defeat by Cronulla Sharks on Saturday
‘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 has reportedly contacted the Rabbitohs and the NRL over the matter.
‘We are investigating what happened here and will have no further comment to make until our investigation is complete,’ a statement from Souths read.
The club added that it had ‘reached out to the boy’s mother to let her know we will be investigating the incident.’
His mother has also published a post on the ‘Everything Sutherland Shire’ Facebook group to ask for more help on the incident before the post appeared to have been deleted by the group’s administrators.
‘So it’s a bit of a shock to see that this is how young fans are treated,’ she added.
‘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.’