AFL player John McCarthy mourned

20 Sep 2012, 4:07 pm   -   Source: AAP
AFL player John McCarthy, who died in Las Vegas, is being remembered at his funeral in Victoria. (AAP)

AFL player John McCarthy, who died in Las Vegas, is being remembered at his funeral in Victoria. (AAP)

AFL player John McCarthy has been remembered as an extraordinary person who loved his family and teammates, at his funeral in his home town of Sorrento.

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This was a funeral with a face far too young.

As 22-year-old AFL player John McCarthy was remembered by more than a 1000 mourners in his Victorian seaside home town of Sorrento on Thursday, the answers were few and far between.

Why McCarthy, a much-loved player first at Collingwood, then Port Adelaide, was dead while in the prime of life?

Why youthful misadventure met mortality on a Las Vegas rooftop for a loving, caring soul who embraced all he met?

Especially those whose circumstances were less idyllic than his large, close-knit family and huge number of friends and teammates left visibly broken-hearted by his loss.

Inside St Mary's Star of the Sea, it was the broadest of churches.

Mourners wore black. And white. And every other colour in the AFL, with all 18 clubs represented.

AFL heavyweights Andrew Demetriou and Eddie McGuire and McCarthy's former coaches Mick Malthouse and Matthew Primus mixed with friends and loved ones who had grown up with McCarthy, and hundreds from a Mornington Peninsula community his family is a huge part of.

Players from his former club Collingwood and Port teammates came en masse in buses.

Former Richmond skipper Chris Newman, Western Bulldogs captain Matthew Boyd, Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna and a host of ex-Magpies players stood outside in a marquee to house the hundreds who couldn't fit in the church.

In eulogies from his aunt, uncle, brother Matthew and partner Dani Smarrelli, he was remembered as a loving nephew, sibling, partner and friend.

His mother Catherine McCarthy said he was an extraordinary human being who loved his family with intensity.

Her family, she said, had no regrets.

"We could not have loved him more," Mrs McCarthy said.

"There were no handshakes in our family, only hugs, kisses and love."

She spoke of Johnny the carer and wonderful cook.

A compassionate person who always strove to make everyone feel accepted.

"Our Johnny boy is one of the most extraordinary human beings we have been privileged to know," Mrs McCarthy said.

She spoke of his love, kindness, softness and spirituality, saying: "He loved his family with intensity."

After the two-hour mass, a guard of honour formed by guests lined the streets of Sorrento to farewell McCarthy.

Some broke into spontaneous applause as the hearse drove away from the church.

Most had already broken into spontaneous tears during the moving eulogies.

Like the church, McCarthy's life was full of love.

"He loved his friends. He loved his teammates. He just generated love," Mrs McCarthy said.

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