SBW Scoops A Top Sporting Award

As a result of giving his Rugby World Cup medal away to a young boy, Sonny Bill Williams was awarded the 2015 Panathlon International Fair Play Award to recognise his kind gesture.

The award recognises a player that has committed an act of fair play by complying with both the written and unwritten rules of sport.

Sonny Bill Williams received the award for giving away his Rugby World Cup winner medal to Charlie Lines, who was "smoked" in a tackle from a security guard after running on the field following the side's 34-17 win over Australia. He then returned the boy to his family.

The judges described it as 'the most fair play act of 2015'.

"It really means a lot. For myself it wasn't about being a rugby union player, it was just about being a good person and that's how I was raised - to have good manners," explain Williams after receiving the award.

"I'd seen a child that was a little bit hurt it touched me on the inside - I just done what I thought was right."

Williams still keeps in contact with the child who was tackled and is set to catch up with him again during the London leg of the World Sevens Series.

NZ Herald