A 13-year-old who trolled an AFL player on social media before he abandoned his career has apologised.
The teenager known as ‘Jack’ had only recently been allowed to create an Instagram account when he started using it to taunt Collingwood Magpies football player Dayne Beams last month.
Beams was struggling with his mental health after his father died in March 2018.
Dayne Beams was trolled online after his father died. He is pictured with his partner at the Brownlow awards in 2018
Jack used Instagram to taunt Collingwood Magpies football player Dayne Beams. The first of Jack’s message read: ‘U wanna have a bet this weekend mate’. And the last read: ‘At least my dads still alive’ (pictured). Beams responded, ‘Why should players just have to put up with this s***’
Jack messaged the star with a string of abuse including one message that read: ‘At least my dads still alive’.
Beams, 29, shared some of Jack’s messages publicly, commenting: ‘Why should players just have to put up with this s***.
‘It’s disgusting some of the abuse players cop.’
He then announced he was stepping down from the game indefinitely.
According to Jack’s father Brad, the teen regretted his actions immediately after sending the last message, the Herald Sun reported.
‘He said, “As soon as I did it, I knew I shouldn’t have done that”,’ said Brad.
Dayne beams (pictured) struggled with mental health since the death of his father in March 2018, and met with Jack to hear his apology
Jack, who captained his school football team, stepped down the day after he sent the messages.
‘Sorry boys, I’ve done something I’m not proud of, it’s something we can all learn from, and I’m stepping down,’ the 13-year-old said to his team.
While Brad partly blamed himself for not keeping track of his son’s activities online, Jack took it upon himself to write a full-page apology, and Beams responded.
The pair met last weekend, and Beams accepted Jack’s gesture.
‘It’s a valuable lesson to be learnt in regards to what content you put on social media and to understand on the other end of that there’s a real person with real feelings that’s taking it all on,’ Brad said.
‘Don’t be a hero behind the screen. Think of everything you write and the implications it has.
‘From speaking to Dayne he’s a fantastic young man, we wish him all the best, and we couldn’t apologise enough.
‘He was pretty much the same. He said “I accept your apology, I just want it to stop and I don’t want any more hurt for Jack, because I understand he’s a young kid who made a mistake, he admits it and he’s remorseful for it”‘.
The meeting followed a raw and honest Instagram post by Beams where he outlined his reasons for leaving the game, and said he hoped it would shed light on depression and other mental health issues.
The meeting followed a raw and honest Instagram post by Beams where he outlined his reasons for leaving the game, and said he hoped it would shed light on depression and other mental health issues (pictured)
‘I am a broken man at the moment and this is very very real for myself and the people that I love at the moment,’ Beams said in the Instagram post.
‘I am posting this because this is an issue that I will continue to shine a light on because it is real and it can be so so debilitating if it’s not treated.’
‘I have been on the record in the past about the battles I have fought. Right now, I need to step away and regather myself,’ he said.
‘I hope people will understand that this is something I need to do for myself and, importantly, my family. Our well being is the highest priority.’
Beams said: I hope people will understand that this is something I need to do for myself and, importantly, my family. Our well being is the highest priority’ (Dayne Beams is pictured above with his wife Kelly and two children)
Jack has since received a slew of violent threats from strangers online, many of which his father read.
‘My son hasn’t been exposed to it because we took his phone. The comments were disgusting. You could imagine those writing it were thinking he was adult.
‘If you thought an adult had written that you’d think how low could you possibly go, but being one of my own…
‘It was one of my lowest points as a parent I’ve been through.’
Jack’s father Brad said dealing with the implications of his son’s messages to Dayne Beams (pictured with his wife Kelly above) was the lowest point as a parent so far