Mario Fenech dementia battle: Souths great’s wife reveals Footy Show ditched him after ridicule 

The wife of former rugby league tough man Mario Fenech has revealed how former television colleagues have lost touch and abandoned him in the wake of his devastating health demise, despite seeing early signs.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs legend, now 60, suffers from memory loss and has the brain of an 80-year-old after being diagnosed early onset dementia seven years ago.

He now has advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressively debilitating brain condition caused by repeated blows to the head and consistent episodes of concussion.

After calling full-time on his 274-game career in the 1990s, Fenech became a regular figure on Channel Nine’s long running program NRL Footy Show, where he was relentlessly mocked and became the constant butt of jokes and pranks from the panel.

Rebecca Fenech has opened up on the personal pain the taunting and ridicule on the show had on her husband of 30 years behind the scenes.

Only three former Footy Show stars – Paul ‘Fatty Vautin, Peter Sterling and Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach remain in contact with Mario, despite showing early stages of his demise while still on the show.

‘He speaks to Fatty very occasionally or to Sterlo, sometimes Blocker, they’re three ones he speaks to maybe once or twice a year,’ Ms Fenech told 7News Spotlight.

‘But no, we don’t hear from anyone.’

She insists all of her husband’s former co-stars are aware of his dementia battle.

‘Of course they are, there’s been whispers around for a long time. They know, they saw his decline on The Footy Show as well,’ she said 

‘It just hasn’t been talked about, it’s silent.’ 

She suspects many other retired players haven’t been in touch because her husband may be a mirror that’s hard for them to look into as she issued a plea for them for the sake of the future of rugby league.

‘He did play that game with a lot of passion, he loved it,’ Ms Fenech said.

‘I don’t know what to say to them really.’ 

‘Just help, help this game to become safer.’ 

Ms Fenech recalled how her husband revealed that he would come home ‘p***** off’ after being continuously mocked on the Footy Show and how resentful he was about his treatment on the show as comedic figure and an object of ridicule.

She said the show continued to make fun of her husband despite being fully aware of his devastating condition. 

‘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,’ Ms Fenech added.

‘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.’

She added Mario would return home from the show upset and that his parents ‘certainly weren’t’ comfortable with the way their son was portrayed on the show.

Fenech still regularly plays golf, goes to the gym and remains involved at his beloved Rabbitohs.

He still attends games and was pictured at Souths training last week ahead of their big elimination win against Cronulla on Saturday night.

Souths are now one win away from the NRL grand final but face a daunting task against defending premiers Penrith.

Fenech himself opened up about the harrowing effect his declining health has had on him.

‘I remember when I was playing football, I got smashed around the head all the time and it had a real bad effect on me,’ Fenech recalled.

‘You feel like you’re going pop, and it affects your brain. It affects your brain.

‘There are times I get really bad, just anxiety stuff. It’s not much fun to have a brain damage, mate, because I literally forget things like that.’

‘I say to myself, enjoy every day I can. I want to have a good time, not a bad time.’ 

Despite his deteriorating memory, Fenech can still recall being bullied and called a ‘wog’ at school, which motivated him to be good at rugby league.

Former boxing champion Jeff Fenech (no relation) says seeing the long term effect concussions had on his great mate has been ‘scary’ 

His wife believes that the 274 games he played at the top level have taken an irreversible toll on his brain. 

His condition has deteriorated to the point where now nearly no memory left at all, and it will not be long before the former footy star needs full-time care. 

The couple celebrated their 30th anniversary this year and have been together for 36 years.

Ms Fenech dubs the condition the ‘silent, lonely killer’ and has come forth to speak about it for all other sufferers and families ‘and for future generations of children who love rugby league’.

‘He’s such a beautiful man and person and we’re losing him,’ she said. 

‘I’m doing this because people don’t realise the suffering he’s gone through.

‘Every day he wakes up now and says ‘I’m confused, I don’t know why I don’t feel great.

‘He can’t really do or think for himself and I’m sure there are other families, wives, husbands, children and parents that are living in silence and can’t tell their story.

‘So I’m doing this for them and future generations who love rugby league as much as our family loves it and how we can protect them from these fatal, long-term injuries.’ 

In early September former NRL star James Graham revealed the huge toll that repeated head traumas had taken on his life.

The former England international revealed he suffered more than 100 concussions and 18,000 collisions and the damage has left him with ‘confronting’ mental health issues. 

The symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head – include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment and problems to control impulse.

Significantly, CTE can also lead to depression and anxiety and, eventually, progressive ­dementia.