Footy Show mocked cult hero Mario Fenech when it knew he was sick

The wife of Mario Fenech has come forward for the first time with devastating details about the rugby league cult hero’s health.

The 60-year-old has fought a very public battle with early onset dementia and the effects of brain damage during his football career.

The Rabbitiohs icon is one of the most popular figures in the game through his recent work with grassroots rugby league programs and many charitable causes.

However, his private hell has now been further exposed in a confronting story to run on Seven’s Spotlight on Sunday night.

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Among several heartbreaking revelations, Fenech’s wife Rebecca has revealed the former Footy Show star was also resentful of being mocked by the long-running show.

Fenech was regularly the butt of jokes in skits performed on the show and was also treated as a comedic figure by some of his colleagues and panel members.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Mario Fenech at a Rabbitohs function. Picture by Damian Shaw.Source: News Corp Australia

Rebecca Fenech said the show made fun of her husband despite having full awareness of his condition.

“They took the mickey out of him where, really, he’s a very intelligent man – but that’s the way it rolled,” Mrs Fenech said of the Channel 9 show.

“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 said in the interview her husband sometimes returned home from the show “pissed off” and revealed his parents weren’t comfortable with the way he was portrayed.

Footy Show legends Paul Vautin, Peter Sterling and Mario Fenech.Source: News Corp Australia

She said Footy Show did now acknowledge his deteriorating health.

“I mean, there’s been whispers around for a long time,” she said.

“They know, they saw his decline obviously in The Footy Show as well. It just hasn’t been talked about, it’s silent.”

In the heartbreaking story to air on Sunday night, Fenech says he believes his dementia is the result of the numerous concussions and head knocks suffered during his 16 years in top-level rugby league.

Channel 7 reports he has little memory left and will soon need full-time care.

He revealed in 2016 he had begun to struggle with the impacts of brain damage and had begun to take dementia medication.

He said at the time he had no regrets about his career.

Mario Fenech is South Sydney through and through.Source: News Limited

“Rugby league in this generation is a lot more safer than when I played,” he said.

“But in saying that I wouldn’t change a thing. I really enjoyed my 15 year challenge of playing Rugby League and enjoyed my time at Souths and it was brutal in those days but that’s the way it was.”

The Fenech family hopes that by going public for the first time with their alarming revelations, they too can help protect future generations of sports-loving families from the long-term repercussions of head injuries.