ON a crisp winter’s day a group of family and friends gathered at a peaceful suburban soccer field to pay tribute to a young man whose life was tragically cut short by an international act of terror.

Jack O’Brien was just 25 years old and returning home from a trip of a lifetime to Europe when he boarded Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which was shot down over the Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing everyone on board.

From the messages and photos Jack sent home during the seven-week trip, his family were left in no doubt he was wringing every last moment out of the experience, from running with the bulls in Pamplona to cheering on his beloved Socceroos in a small bar in Iceland.

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Jack from Old Toongabbie was flying back to Australia on a Friday and due to play soccer for his beloved club Winston Hills on Saturday.

But Jack never got to step onto the pitch again at Max Ruddock Reserve where had started out as a seven-year-old, playing on the top field 18 years earlier.

On Monday, family and former teammates took time out to remember the strong willed and determined player with an unshakable passion for soccer and his mates.

media_camera A crowd gather at Max Ruddock Reserve where a plaque was unveiled in Jack O’Brien’s memory.

media_camera Jack O'Brien was on a seven-week trip to Europe. He is pictured here in Iceland.

Jack’s number ten bright orange Winston Hills Soccer Club jersey was draped over newly installed benches and removed to reveal a plaque in his memory, and the words “Remembered with Love”.

For his family, it was a fitting tribute for a young man who touched the lives of many in the community.

“It has impacted us all, for those closest we are often bewildered that this could be true,” his mum Meryn said.

media_camera Friends and teammates sign a remembrance book at the reserve.

“It (the plaque) was a suggestion of Jack’s friends to have somewhere to go where people could remember him.

“Our hope is this will be a place where any of us can sit and remember, they can sit and watch the game Jack loved, or look at the trees or watch the cricket in summer.”

Jack’s father Jon said an international event had shattered their world and quoted Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

media_camera Jack’s mum Meryn O’Brien addresses the crowd at the reserve on Monday.

media_camera The plaque is unveiled by former soccer team mate James Redwood.

“There are no internal affairs left in this world of ours,” he said.

“What I think he (Solzhenitsyn) meant is we are all in this together — what we do with that I don’t know.

“Our grief is still raw, our life without Jack is hard.

media_camera The plaque in memory of Jack O’Brien,

“One of the things we do know is how grateful we are for Jack and his friends and that’s why we are here this morning.”

Jon said Jack had always loved soccer and playing for Winston Hills.

“I would say my biggest passion is soccer,” Jack had written in a job application a couple of years earlier.

“I have played since I was 7 and will continue until I’m 70.”