Approximately 1500 people descended on St John the Evangelist Catholic Church at Jugiong on Friday to farewell Lui Polimeni.
Friends, family, school mates the Rugby League community, the sporting community, the Jugiong community and many people from Harden Cootamundra and Gundagai paid their respects to the 15 year old, who was taken too soon after he collapsed on the field during a Rugby League match and passed away on Wednesday May 25, in Canberra Hospital.
The Jugiong community has been left reeling with the tight-knit village of 300 people banding together to support each other and the Polimeni family since the tragedy occurred.
Rubber bracelets were offered to mourners sporting the two hashtags which have become synonymous with Lui’s legacy. #livelikelui and #playlikelui. These hashtags will forever be remembered by those who knew him and a fitting tribute the young man with the mullet.
Lui was a confident, out going and determined young man, however, this was not always the case. He was a shy child whose confidence grew as he neared high school.
HIs former Rugby League coach Stuart Gay said that Lui could make a team of 10 players seem like a full side. He was determined to do his best and the best by his team mates at every opportunity.
As his father Gino put it “Lui was a rockstar”
Close friend of the family, George Holm read the eulogy.
I’ve been speaking to a lot of Lui’s friends in preparation for today, and they are at a singular loss to articulate their feelings, or adequately describe who Lui Polimeni was to them. I’ve told them, ‘Don’t worry that you don’t know what to say about this tragedy; none of us have the right words to speak about the enormous grief that we feel at the loss of such an outstanding young man, or to offer any comfort to his devastated family.
On the morning following Lui’s death I came back to Jugiong, and I witnessed a community in utter disbelief and misery. The scope and intensity of their pain, is the best measure of the affection and respect that they afforded Lui. As Gino said to me this week, ‘We’ve been ripped off!’: yes, you have mate, and this community feel robbed with you.
Jenny wrote me a beautiful email about Lui’s life with his family growing up here. In it she said that, ‘Lui saw himself as part of a small family, in a small community, but with big hearts’; those big are hearts are breaking for you today.
Jenny wanted to thank the people of Jugiong and surrounding districts for the way that they have come together to help the family in their time of mourning, making special mention of the sporting clubs that Lui was a part of.
Those who didn’t know Lui when he was little may be surprized to learn that he was a very shy, cautious child. Jenny remembers the way he used to cling to her at playgroup, hiding behind her legs while he drew up the courage to play with the other toddlers. Later, for one of his birthdays she took him and some friends to a go-kart course, where he drove so precisely that the other kids lapped him.
But Lui built himself by increments; as his oldest friend, Ben Wallis told me, his outstanding characteristic was his determination.
While not abandoning the fastidiousness and precision of his childhood, he progressively became more outgoing as he headed toward high school. Anyone who was at Lui’s 10th birthday party will remember his karaoke version of ACDC’s T.N.T.; full of confidence and bravado, and culminating in a partial strip tease for the assembled relatives and friends. His diet, or lack thereof, was legendary; at the pub he had his own special pizza: salt; no sauce, no cheese, no topping, just salt! His parents finally got him to move on from the ubiquitous vegemite sandwich to chicken schnitzels, and Gino promptly filled the freezer with enough schnitzel for him to have one a day until the end of each month.
As his self-esteem grew, he became what one of his high school teachers described as the alpha-male of his year; one of those cool, confident kids who was liked and admired by everyone. He didn’t just accept who he was, he revelled in it. He enjoyed each and every moment of being Lui Polimeni. As Gino puts it, ‘He was a rockstar!’
He embraced his family’s work ethic, and was known to many of you by his association with the family business. His godfather, Colin, remarked that he was always looking for more to do; never hanging back. But he still found time to speak to the clientele, or entertain the staff with his selection of fruit shop inspired jokes. Even when upset, he would simply raise his eyebrows at you in his own quirky way and his withering look said more than any diatribe could.
In many ways, Lui inherited his parent’s worst traits! He was unfortunately afflicted with the Steven’s family love for the Manly-Warringah football club; while his predilection for heavy metal music and bad haircuts derived directly from his father.
His determination was evident in the way he played sport. Though a natural athlete, it was his dedication and ability to draw deeply on his talent that set him apart. Before he played footy for the last time, Gino said to him, ‘Mate, you know you don’t have to do everything out there today.’ But Lui didn’t know how to ease up; if there was a tackle to be made, or a hit up required, he was there, ready to go. He saw anything else as letting his teammates down, and he would never do that. As his former coach, Stuart Gay said of him, ‘he would make a team of ten players seem like a full side’.
He was also very modest about his achievements. This week Jenny found two best and fairest awards from last year, one for rugby league and the other for soccer, squirreled away in his bedroom draws.
Lui didn’t just have a happy life on the farm with his family; he had the added gift of recognising how good life was. This is something that often only comes to people with age and regret, but Lui appreciated and was thankful for everything that he had. In return, his family cherished him; I don’t think I have known two parents as proud of their boys as Jenny and Gino.
His relationship with his mother was one of mutual adoration. Jenny’s last words to Lui before his final game were ‘Gee, you’re a good kid, Lui: I love you’. He was lucky enough to have a father who he admired, but who he also considered a mate. One night at the pub, we had a local band performing, and they played a version of ‘Long Way To The Top’ for Gino. I can remember Gino singing out at the top of his voice, ‘Where’s my boys?’; as though he couldn’t enjoy the moment without sharing it with them.
His brother Joey was like his second-self and they shared everything, knowing each other as only brothers can. When Steve Magnone became the local police officer, Joey approached him with a complaint. ‘Lui hits me’, he told Steve, hoping for swift retribution from the law. Steve just suggested that he might hit him back. ‘Oh no, I don’t do that’, Joey assured him. The anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise.
On the weekend before he died, Lui, Joey and Zac helped me move into a new house at Yass. When we had finally decided where each piece of furniture was going I went into the backyard to find the muscle: there was Lui, digging in the sandpit with my son’s toy excavator! I remember thinking at the time, how beautiful it was to see a teenager taking the time to entertain a (very annoying) three year old. When we found out that Lui wasn’t going to make it my wife said to me, ‘He’s exactly what you want your own child to be like when he grows up”. It’s high praise, but valid: caring, respectful, confident, determined. These are the qualities that I hope to foster in my son, and they go some way to describe the young man that Lui was.
To his family and his young friends who are broken people at the moment, I can only offer this aphorism, ‘Death ends a life, it doesn’t end a relationship’. Lui lives in that raw, empty pit of grief that you feel inside, and he will continue to be a part of each of you as you try to move forward from today. The moments that you spent with him are part of who you are, so cherish those memories, tell those stories, and enjoy his company one more time.
Lui will always be a rockstar!
