He later died in hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Junction Oval in St Kilda \u2014 the home of Cricket Victoria \u2014 was a fitting venue for the sports-mad boy who loved cricket and football.<\/p>\n
A framed photo of Ben sat on a table on the oval alongside a football bearing his name, signed Collingwood and Waverley Park Hawks football jumpers, and the 2023 AFL premiership cup. A cricket bat with his name and the number 521 leant on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The 2023 AFL premiership cup sat alongside a football and cricket bat. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Funeral celebrant Jennifer Mettner said the oval was a special place for Ben and his father Jace.<\/p>\n
“This is a place where Jace and Ben have been together,” she said.<\/p>\n
“They really loved being here. Taking in the atmosphere, and everything that it has to offer.”<\/p>\n
Ms Mettner also said starting the service at 11am was significant.<\/p>\n
“11am was the time that the first ball of cricket was traditionally bowled,” she said.<\/p>\n
A normal Tuesday turns into ‘a nightmare’<\/p>\n
Ben’s grandfather, David Austin, said the teenager was a beloved son of Tracey and Jace and a big brother to Cooper and Zach.<\/p>\n
He said Ben, who attended Rowville Sports Academy, hoped to become a physical education teacher if a sporting career didn’t eventuate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ben’s grandfather David Austin gave the eulogy. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
“He then said, ‘If my cricket and football don’t reach the top level where I’m getting paid, I’ll be a boundary umpire in the AFL. They get good money’,” David Austin recalled.<\/p>\n
“And I thought, ‘That’ll work for Ben. He can run all day’.”<\/p>\n
David Austin said the day of the accident started as any other Tuesday, with the three Austin brothers coming around for breakfast before school.<\/p>\n
But it soon turned into “a nightmare and our most tragic day”.<\/p>\n
“Jace, Tracey and their family want to be very clear about one thing,” he said as light rain began to fall<\/p>\n
“This was an accident. No-one’s fault, no-one’s blame.<\/p>\n
“Everything that’s been said or written about Ben in the media is absolutely, 100 per cent correct. Ben loved his cricket and football. Ben was also a passionate supporter of the Collingwood Football Club.<\/p>\n
“To have an outstanding young man, a ripper young man, taken so young \u2014 it makes no sense. It’s not fair, it’s not right. Sometimes life sucks.”<\/p>\n
“Rest in peace our champion young man, Ben Austin.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jace Austin kisses a rose during his son Ben’s funeral. (AAP: James Ross)<\/p>\n
Ben’s dad Jace, wearing a blue cricket cap, said his son “lit up the world”.<\/p>\n
“The best goal you ever scored or four you ever hit wasn’t on the field, it was when your soul chose us as your family,” he said.<\/p>\n
He remembered fondly how Ben loved aeroplanes.<\/p>\n
“He loved watching planes up close, tracking them on the app, telling me their size and destination.<\/p>\n
“We would guess where the next one going to or from. A game I continue to play.”<\/p>\n
Ben the ‘miracle baby’<\/p>\n
Ben was remembered as a young man with “gentle smile and a lion’s heart”, who loved cricket and life, and lived with integrity.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of the service, his father led a rendition of the Collingwood theme song.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The service for Ben Austin was held at the Junction Oval in St Kilda. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Dubbed a “miracle baby” because doctors told his mother she would not be able to have children, Ben’s birth was featured in the Herald Sun newspaper.<\/p>\n
In a speech read out on her behalf, Tracey Austin said she was always proud to tell people she was Ben’s mum.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ben Austin was dubbed a “miracle” baby after his parents were told it was unlikely his mother Tracey (pictured) would be able to have children. (AAP: James Ross)<\/p>\n
Jace Austin said playing cricket with legend Shane Warne and Phillip Hughes, who died in similar circumstances while playing for South Australia in 2014, would now be high on Ben’s list.<\/p>\n
“To all Benny’s cricket mates \u2014 keep playing this bloody great game he loved. You’ll feel him with you with every boundary and every wicket,” he said.<\/p>\n
“However if your stats start looking too good he’ll be up there sending ducks and wicketless games your way.<\/p>\n
“We are so proud and love you endlessly. Great knock Benny, well played son.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Shane Warne stand at Junction Oval was a sea of cricket shirts, football jumpers and scarves as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,149101,169785,1300,169787,30297,169786,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-296183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ben-austin","11":"tag-cricket-nets","12":"tag-death","13":"tag-ferntree-gully-cricket-club","14":"tag-funeral","15":"tag-junction-oval","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}