A Merrigum football guernsey was among five items placed alongside the coffin of Mario Scapin at an emotional funeral that attracted hundreds of people to a fitting farewell location — the forward pocket of the Merrigum oval.
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He was a member of the club’s 1990 Kyabram District Football League premiership and a life-long supporter of the Bulldogs.
Not only did his children and grandchildren place a Merrigum guernsey to honour his memory, there was also his motorcycle club jacket, his helmet, a Collingwood Football Club guernsey and his work time book.
A portrait of his children and an image of his broad smile with his 50th birthday cake were the dominant images of a funeral that was fitting of the status in which he was held in several quarters of the community.
Fifty-year-old Mario died at his beloved workplace on March 15 and members from two of the clubs that he held closest to his hearts — Merrigum Football Netball Club and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club — turned out in force to say goodbye.
A line of motorcycles stretching almost the width of the oval formed a path to the marquee, which sheltered his father Gino, children Darianne, Hannah, Jessica, Ashlynn and Jamie, along with grandchildren Zayden, Harper Jett, Hudson and Easton.
His two sisters, Donata and Angela, also farewelled their younger brother in a ceremony led by family friend and long-time Kyabram church official Alma Limbrick.
His five children lit candles in his memory, then his four daughters spoke in honour of their father, before lifetime friend Gino Meneghetti gave an overview of the much loved sportsman and biker’s life.
Happy and carefree was the over-arching theme of the words spoken by family and friends, along with a penchant for the simple things in life — unless it was cars or motorcycles.
His daughters recalled his almost obligatory uniform of thongs, trucker singlet and football shorts, matched by his love of a hot dog and can of coke.
Older sisters Angie and Donata were 10 and 11 when Mario was born in 1972. His father, Gino, was a widely respected and loved figure as a barber in Kyabram’s Allan Street for many decades.
Gino Meneghetti, among his closest friends, compared him to Warwick Capper: “good looking, tight shorts and very competitive’’, but without all the fanfare and limelight.
"I knew Scaps all my life, along with Bill Hatzie,” Mr Meneghetti said.
“We took a bit of a different road growing up. I played at Haslem Street and he played for St Augs, I was at Ky Blue and he was at Ky Black. I was at Lancaster and he was at Merrigum.”
He said it was pretty fitting the gathering was at Merrigum.
“Vince and Whitey used to go and pick up Mario for training, he would walk out with a hot dog in one hand and his boots in the other,” he said.
He recalled Scaps’ first car, an SLR V8 5000 Torana and the VK Brock Commodore, along with his passion for having the best of everything when it came to cars.
"The difference with Scaps is that his Brock Commodore had three baby seats in the back,“ Mr Meneghetti said.
He descried Mario’s love of trucks and his decision to take on an apprentice builder’s role with Max McKenzie.
“He built his own house after his time and then the Genio brothers introduced him to trucking,” Mr Meneghetti said.
Eventually Mario started work with Rendevski Transport, which was another of his great passions.
Mario joined the company in 2012 and was extremely well known at the Wallan southbound coffee shop, where he would have a coffee with his ham and cheese toastie every morning at five o’clock.
The Scapin name became well known in several netball and football grades of the Kyabram district league.
Mario’s love of bikes started with a Ducati and ended with a Harley Breakout, which was parked alongside his coffin at the funeral.
Mr Meneghetti said Mario fitted well into the motorcycle club and the number of members at the funeral indicated how much he was loved.
“The club is full of normal working blokes and he was one of them,” Mr Meneghetti said.
“He sat at the end of the bar drinking a coke and we will really miss Scaps on a Friday night.
“He, Nicko and I almost had our own Ky council in his Toyota on the way over to the club.”
Mr Meneghetti said he would be proud of his family, who shared his mantra of “no fuss and get on with the job’’.
The 1990 Merrigum football premiership flag flew at half mast at the club in honour of Mario’s contribution to the club.
– Mario’s body was found in a low-oxygenated preserving room at the Shepparton warehouse of his employer, Rendevski Transport.
The alarm was raised when hours after his shift ended his Hilux utility was still running outside the warehouse. His body was found at 2.30pm on Wednesday.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor