This advice was issued on October 24, 2015. There have been a number of recent incidents involving AFL footballers travelling overseas and within Australia during their six-week break.

The overall level of advice for AFL footballers remains to exercise a high degree of caution.

Illustration: Mick Connolly

■We advise AFL footballers to travel with extreme caution in all countries and locations. They should be aware of their surroundings and exercise particular care when travelling in groups – or staying in hotel rooms alone with a mobile phone.

■We advise AFL footballers to reconsider their need to attend nightspots in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong and Istanbul. Unscrupulous and unsavoury people have subjected footballers to a series of "unprovoked attacks" and "king hits". DFAT notes that it does not matter if you're a 200-centimetre key forward who weighs 104 kilograms, or a 185cm ruck-rover, predators sense the innate physical vulnerability of the AFL footballer in these unfamiliar surrounds.