Remembering BJ: Club to create memorial to fallen teammate

Nambour Junior Crushers Rugby League is honouring Ben “BJ” Hunter with a memorial.

Nambour Junior Crushers Rugby League will honour fallen former player Ben (BJ) Hunter with the opening of the BJ Memorial Garden at Crusher Park. 

A working bee will take place on Sunday, April 21, followed by the opening on Wednesday, April 24 at 4.30pm.

The memorial garden will feature a lychee tree planted in Hunter’s honour, as Ben had been working on a lychee farm before his accident. A bench seat and plaque will be dedicated to him. 

BJ passed away after a car accident last June. He was riding home from training, on Image Flat Road, where he was fatally struck by a hatchback.   

Club Secretary Tarsh Gardner said the Crushers community was honoured to be paying tribute to their beloved former player and invited the community to join them in remembering him.

The 16-year-old was a member of the Melbourne Storm junior academy, a Caloundra State High School student and Langer Trophy player, a Brisbane Broncos supporter and a talented Nambour Crushers and Sunshine Coast Falcons player.

BJ Hunter in action for the Falcons.

Up to a thousand rugby league supporters from clubs across the Sunshine Coast paid tribute to Ben in a candlelight vigil at the Nambour Crushers Football Club last June 28.

The club held a “Round for BJ”,  at Crusher Park in his memory during which Ben’s Under 16s team mates played Caloundra for the Ben Hunter Memorial Shield and “retired” his jersey.

A public memorial service was also held last July at Sunshine Coast Stadium and up to a thousand rugby league supporters from clubs across the Coast paid tribute to Ben at an emotional candlelight vigil at the Nambour Crushers Football Club on June 28.