As long as we win I dont care 77-year-old Reggie the Rabbit will miss NRL grand final

The fluffy white suit of Reggie the Rabbit, Souths’ iconic mascot, will be in Brisbane for grand final day on Sunday. But his soul will be in Matraville.

Forget Russell Crowe. Seventy-seven-year-old Charlie Gallico is South Sydney’s No.1 fan and has been the man inside the suit for two decades. He possesses a deep love for the club that is evident from the ‘Glory, glory to South Sydney’ ringtone blaring from his Nokia 8210.

Charlie Gallico has been Reggie the Rabbit for two decades.Credit:Getty

But on Sunday, as Souths play Penrith in the NRL grand final in Brisbane, Gallico will be watching from home, stuck far away from his beloved team due to the lockdown.

“As long as we win I don’t care,” he said. “I would love to be there, but I’m not sad. I just want the boys to come home winners.”

The doctors have wanted Gallico to hang up the suit for years, but the pint-sized Italian migrant has no fears of the potential health complications that come with undertaking such a physically demanding role at his age.

“Aren’t you worried about what continuing may do to your health?” Gallico is asked.

Reggie the Rabbit with former South Sydney captain John Sutton at Redfern during the week.Credit:Sydney Morning Herald

He laughs before uttering the words that encapsulate what South Sydney means to him.

“How nice would it be to be on the field and cark it wearing the suit?” he says.

In 2016, Gallico was brought back to life by paramedics following a heart attack. Two weeks later he was hopping around ANZ Stadium as Reggie the Rabbit.

Such was his determination to continue doing the job he had been doing since South Sydney were reinstated into the competition back in 2002, Gallico kept his condition hidden from the club.

Issac Luke with Charlie Gallico back in 2013.Credit:Getty

“When you love something, nothing will stop you from doing it,” the 77-year-old told the Herald this week.

“It was a massive heart attack. I was gone, but I came back from the dead. When I die they can do whatever they like, but it won’t be for a while. Our club doctor asks me ‘Charlie, how do you do it?’.

“As long as I’m alive, I’m the only one who is going to do Reggie Rabbit. There’ll be no one else doing it. That’s it. When I finally pass away, whatever the club wants to do they can do. But I’ve got another six years left in me, at least.”

Souths sent the Reggie suit to Brisbane to have their famous mascot on hand for the decider but like many, Gallico had to stay behind.

Gallico is more than just a mascot. He still runs the water for the club’s Harold Matthews representative team, and has been doing so for two decades.

The original Reggie Rabbit handing out Easter Eggs to children at the Prince of Wales Hospital in 1979.Credit:Fairfax

When the club won its first competition in 50 years back in 2014, seven of the players on the field had played under Gallico as they came through the grades.

“That gave me the biggest thrill,” he said. “To see those young men, who I’ve known since they were 14 and 15, to run them on the field and win a grand final, what else could you want in your life. I had a bit of a tear.”

The players all love him. Former Rabbitohs premiership-winning captain John Sutton tells the story of how Gallico once drank former player Beau Champion under the table downing shots of Zambuca.

“He wouldn’t let him live it down,” Sutton says. “Charlie is South Sydney through and through. Honestly, we all love him. I don’t think anything will keep him from being Reggie. He’s as shattered as I am that he can’t be there this weekend.”

Charlie Gallico celebrates the 2014 grand final victory for South Sydney. He asked ex-Rabbitohs CEO Shane Richardson if he could take the mask off to savour the moment.Credit:NRL Photos

While leading the players out in the 2014 grand final was one of the great privileges of his life, it paled into insignificance compared to the scenes of jubilation after the game.

“I’ve been doing Reggie the Rabbit for 20 years and I have never ever taken the mask off,” he said.

“I yelled out to Richo (former CEO Shane Richardson) ‘can I please take my mask off?‘. He said ‘Charlie, you do whatever the hell you like - we just won the grand final!’.

“That really made my night. It was the first time I took it off in 20 years. That was a beauty for me. That was a real honour.”

Adam Reynolds and Issac Luke carry Reggie the Rabbit from the field after the passing of Charlie’s wife back in 2013.Credit:Getty

But by far the greatest honour of his career came a week after his wife passed away in 2013.

Issac Luke and Adam Reynolds, players who have adored Gallico since they met him as teenagers, carried him off the field as a mark of respect to the man who was still grieving the loss of his partner.

“I was crying under there,” he said. “They carried me around the stadium to honour my wife and my family. It meant a real, real lot.

“I didn’t know if I was going to do it that day, but I asked my daughters and they said: ‘mum would be very proud of you’. She was a mad Souths supporter too.”

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