The heart-touching image of Charlie Line, a rugby World Cup medal around his neck and the hugest of grins on his face, was beamed around the world over the weekend. But on Monday it was back to reality for the 14-year-old following his close encounter with the New Zealand star Sonny Bill Williams as he got on with his lessons at one of the UK’s most famous sporting schools.
Charlie’s family made it quite clear that the teenager’s brush with global fame was going to be shortlived. He would beconcentrating on his studies rather than giving a blow-by-blow account of the ecstatic moment the All Black World Cup-winner handed over his medal. Charlie certainly was not going to be posing for any more pictures with his medal, they said.
Millfield School in Somerset – an £11,000-a-term establishment which has bred rugby stars including the England captain Chris Robshaw – released a one-line statement on behalf of the Line family: “Charlie is now back at school and focussing on his studies. He won’t be taking part in any media interviews.”
The excited teenager hit the headlines after leaping on to the Twickenham pitch following the All Blacks’ victory in the World Cup final against Australia on Saturday. His valiant effort to celebrate with the New Zealand players seemed doomed to fail when a steward tackled him to the turf.
Enter one Sonny Bill Williams, a tattooed mountain of a man, who intervened, picked Charlie from the ground and walked him back to his seat before removing his medal and placing it around the boy’s neck.
Williams later tweeted his admiration for Charlie’s gusto: “For a kid 2 have that will and take that risk, you deserve a medal,” he wrote, “Enjoy bro.”
For a kid 2 have that will and take that risk, you deserve a medal. Enjoy bro https://t.co/M0hyD7btdl
— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) October 31, 2015
The social media fun continued. One of Charlie’s relatives posted a picture of himself wearing the medal with the message: “This isn’t Sonny-Bill Williams’ World Cup winning medal or anything #nobiggy”
The All Black was rewarded for his generosity with a replacement medal – and a huge boost to his own already pretty beloved image, while Charlie has been left with not just a golden souvenir of his pitch invasion but a story to tell his children and grandchildren.
Out of the media glare, Charlie now has the problem of keeping that precious medal safe. It probably isn’t in his school locker.
