The super-rich owners of South Sydney have been urged to pitch in and support club legend Mario Fenech as his devastating battle with early onset dementia comes to light.
Fenech’s health is rapidly deteriorating after the deadly condition has left him with almost no memory left and will soon need full-time care.
‘The Maltese Falcon’ played 274 NRL matches, 181 of which were in the cardinal and myrtle – and the revered club figure can still be spotted at Souths training, such is the esteem in which he is held.
So with the medical bills piling up – and set to steadily increase as Fenech’s health worsens – there are calls for megabucks Souths owners Russell Crowe, Mike Cannon-Brookes and James Packer to step in and help.
Mario Fenech is pictured with his family – son Joe, wife Rebecca, and daughter Bonnie
Mario Fenech played 274 NRL matches, 181 of which were in the iconic cardinal and myrtle of South Sydney
The influential trio are worth more than an estimated $28billion; with software mogul Cannon-Brookes ($22.5billion), businessman Packer ($5.3billion) and movie star Russell Crowe ($179million) all holding substantial estimated individual net worths.
Fenech’s wife Rebecca has now been forced to return to work to make ends meet – and is very concerned about how the family will survive on just one salary.
She also revealed insurance companies are no longer helping pay for her husband’s care.
Rabbitohs owners James Packer and Russell Crowe are being called on the help one of the club’s favourite sons, Mario Fenech, in his hour of need
Mike Cannon-Brookes (centre, in jersey) and his software billions could be crucial to assisting Fenech, who will soon need round-the-clock care
She also said she discovered Fenech, in his dementia-induced confusion, had forgotten to pay health and life insurance bills.
‘He stopped paying the bills because he couldn’t remember,’ Rebecca told Channel 7.
‘I just found them all in a drawer. Six months worth of bills that were never paid.’
Devastatingly, Fenech couldn’t even remember his own son’s wedding – with a prominent neurologist, Dr Rowena Mobbs, saying his brain is like that of an 80-year-old.
It’s the perfect chance for the financially-stable trio of Packer, Cannon-Brookes and Crowe to step in.
Given the way Fenech literally threw himself into everything he did on a footy field, and is one of the key foundational planks of the proud Redfern-based club; it makes perfect sense to return the favour.
Despite his ailing health, Fenech continues to bounce around at Rabbitohs training sessions quite frequently.
As the man he once was slowly disappears, there’s no doubt it would be a popular move by the club to support one of their favourite sons financially, after what he’s given to the game.
Unfortunately, Rebecca claimed not everyone in the footy world has always been entirely supportive of Fenech.
Mario Fenech (left) and Russell Crowe (right) enjoy watching a Rabbitohs match together in 2008
The ‘Falcon’ was treated by the The Footy Show presenters as a comedic figure and an object of ridicule, and she said her husband would often come home ‘p***ed off’ over the way he was treated.
‘They [The Footy Show] took the mickey out of him where, really, he’s a very intelligent man – but that’s the way it rolled,’ she said.
‘He wasn’t a boy’s boy because he didn’t gamble, he didn’t go and have a beer after the show. So I suppose it isolated him a little bit from those people.’
In one famous clip from the hit program, Fenech said: ‘I’m just a circus animal on this show.’
Fenech’s wife Rebecca revealed her husband was resentful about the continual ribbing he copped on The Footy Show
Rebecca said Fenech only keeps up with a few of the many presenters he worked with on the program.
‘He speaks to Fatty [Paul Vautin] very occasionally or to Sterlo [Peter Sterling], sometimes Blocker [Steve Roach], they’re three ones he speaks to maybe once or twice a year,’ she said.
‘But no, we don’t hear from anyone.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk