Dustin has autism spectrum disorder level 2 and footy is his special interest. It brings him endless joy, but it has also caused significant distress. At times, he hated it.

Dustin’s parents Angela and Dave* signed him up for Auskick, the AFL’s junior footy program in their local town. But they noticed towards the end of his club’s under 12s footy season at Seymour Junior Football Club last year, something wasn’t right.

Angela says there was a culture of bullying on the team, particularly around ‘rough’ training sessions.

“A lot of stomach punches … one child in particular who would continuously punch Dustin on repeat, and there was another child who was a lot physically bigger than Dustin was, and he punched him quite severely at one point,” she says.

Angela says these kids would call him names, including homophobic slurs, make jabs about his weight, calling him ‘big back’ and c*** on a regular basis, and ostracise him from group activities.

She says it is hard for Dustin to get social cues sometimes due to his ASD but this was given no consideration by the club.

During one game in the Goulburn Murray Juniors competition, Angela says one of his teammates kicked the ball into Dustin while going for goal.

A massive tirade ensued that Angela could hear from the sidelines. Five kids ran at Dustin shouting ‘What the f*** are you doing? Why are you in the f***ing way?’

A week or two later, Dustin marked the ball right on the goal line and kicked it through.

“They were so angry at him for doing that,” she says.

"He went to high five people and they just turned their backs.