The Mole: Tragic life of league great Joe Reaiche who 'died of a broken heart' at 66
Updated . First published at
I've interviewed more than 1000 rugby league players over the past 40 years - none has a story as intriguing as my good mate Joe Reaiche, who died recently, aged 66.
I did this interview with him about 15 years ago and bring it back as a tribute to a fine man and a mate.
His funeral is in Sydney on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Teddy brutally axed in huge Kangaroos shake up
EXCLUSIVE: 'Forever in debt': Storm star's reveal after grand final loss
READ MORE: Grand final hero's rise from doghouse to penthouse
Some people will tell you football is like war.
Unfortunately for him, Joe Reaiche knows it's not.
A successful businessman living in New York, Joe is right at home in the Big Apple.
In his past Reaiche had a successful rugby league career with the Roosters and a bitter battle with the Church of Scientology over his step children, who happen to be two the US's biggest Soapy stars.
Joe Reaiche. Twitter
And before all that Reaiche found himself fighting in one of the bloodiest conflicts of modern times – The Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s – while he was just a teenager.
"My parents came to Sydney from the Middle East in the 1950s – they had no idea what rugby league was, and neither did I at first" Reaiche told me.
"My dad was old school – very strict….. beatings were common. We grew up in a tiny house, there were five kids and money was tight. There was a park across the street and we used to play there with the neighbourhood kids.
"One night I was in bed and heard this huge roar, looked out the window and saw bright lights.
"Curiosity got the better of me. I snuck out and climbed the fence. This park, right across the road from my house, turned out to be (former Souths home ground) Redfern Oval.
"I can still recall the game – Souths vs St George – and the likes of Ron Coote, Bob McCarthy, Graeme Langlands, Johnny Raper and Billy Smith were playing before my eyes….. I couldn't believe it. I was hooked."
Sadly the night did not end well.
"After the game I tried to sneak back into the house but my dad was waiting at the door", he says
"He boomed 'where the bloody hell were you?' And back handed me across the face before I ever saw it coming. Then he took his belt out and thrashed it across my legs, it was an awful beating… but it was worth it".
From that moment, Reaiche set his mind on becoming a rugby league player even though he couldn't afford a pair of boots.
"One day at Redfern, this Aboriginal kid snarled at me "Hey wog, what the f--- are you doing here, go back to your f---ing home land and play wog ball'.
"When you are a kid, things like that hurt deeply, but I just knuckled down and played footy, where there were no 'wog' taunts… and I was pretty good at it, I found."
Just as Reaiche discovered a path in life, his world came crashing down when he turned 14 in 1972.
"My dad announced we were going back to Beirut in Lebanon," he said. "I was shattered. I had to leave my school mates, my home. And most of all, it was the end of football."
Reaiche recalls the culture shock of being a stranger in a strange land.
"People would often urinate in the streets," he said. "They took their goats and sheep on public buses everywhere, the smell was disgusting."
Reaiche found another major cultural difference - an obsession with weapons and violence.
"Law and order were non-existent and street justice was common - I saw people shot all the time," he says. "I soon had guns myself - an old M1-6 rifle, an AK-47 machine gun and a pistol, not to mention a knife."
Civil war broke out soon after the family arrived and Reaiche happily joined the fight.
"The city was divided into Christians and Muslims," he said. "There were street gangs that would shoot people on the spot. I was still a kid - but you grow up quickly in that situation.
"Even at school, kids were hacking each other to death with machetes - it was brutal.
"I took part in the fighting, but I think my catholic school upbringing in Sydney kicked in a little. I didn't see the sense in slaughter and thankfully, I never killed anyone, but I came close.
"The Bible spoke about hell and if there was a hell on earth, I knew I was in it."
Death was all around and affected Reaiche deeply.
"We had a group of mates and my closest buddy was this kid, Michael," he said. "After five years my dad decided it was time to send me back to Australia and just before I left, I went to say goodbye to Michael.
"He was sad I was leaving but knew it would give me my chance to follow my dream and play rugby league.
"We hugged and went our separate ways and as I walked off, I saw a big Mercedes charging towards the shop where Michael was. Seconds later there was a massive blast.
"It was a suicide bomber, I ran over, the building was in ruins… I got to Michael and he died in my arms. Part of me died with him that moment."
A one day national ceasefire gave Reaiche the chance to leave the carnage - and he arrived back in Sydney, fulfilling his dream of playing professional rugby league.
"I made my debut for the Roosters in 1978 - playing alongside legends like Kevin Hastings and Ian Schubert," he said.
"It was amazing after all I had been through - and throughout my career (three seasons at Easts, one each at Canterbury and Souths) Michael was never far from my mind.
"Playing for Souths was a special highlight - at Redfern where it all began. Craig 'Tugger' Coleman was our captain and he was an inspiration."
As he searched for inner peace after the trauma of his childhood, Reaiche turned to scientology.
"I saw it as a path to become a better footballer and a better person," he explained. "I quit football and moved to Florida and became quite senior in the church."
It was there that he met former wife Carol, who already had two children. Joe took them to auditions in New York when they were just toddlers - and they became successful TV stars. Danny Masterson - now disgraced - appeared on the comedy show That '70s Show, while Chris starred in Malcolm in the Middle. The pair's own kids, Jody and Alana, appeared in TV and films including the worldwide hit show The Walking Dead.
The children embraced scientology - but when Reaiche began to doubt the church, his life again fell into turmoil.
"I started to question the stuff the church did and they didn't like it," he recalled. "Apart from anything, it was so expensive - my ex-wife and I would have put $500,000 into it over the years.
"In the end they called me to an internal inquiry in 2005 and expelled me. Basically, they run the place like a slave camp. They abuse people and strip them of their rights."
Reaiche spoke out against the church on ABC's Four Corners - and many US TV shows, becoming a crusader against the controversial entity… but the church still had the last laugh.
"I got out and I am one of the lucky ones," he said. "But once I was out I tried to contact my kids, who are still in the church, and they cut me off. When I realised what had happened, I cried. I haven't spoken to them in years… that's the cruellest punishment of all. You don't do that to a parent."
Reaiche died of kidney failure on a business trip to London a few weeks ago.
But I spoke to his brother Tony this week who has a different explanation for his passing.
"The official cause is kidney failure, but I know Joe died of a broken heart because of what the church did to him."
