Senior footballer sexually assaulted child on end-of-season trip. He wasn't the one who left the club

Megan Latham is hit by an uneasy feeling as she steps onto the Tyrendarra recreation reserve.

It's a frosty morning in south-west Victoria. The grass is slick from overnight rain.

It's the first time she's been on the oval since the end of Tyrendarra's inaugural women's football season in 2022.

She quit the club soon after.

Not because she was injured, too busy or no good, but because of the club's response to a shocking incident on an end of season footy trip.

A senior player had sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl.

As rumours of the incident and his arrest filtered through the clubrooms, Ms Latham says the official response was silence.

"No-one said anything about it," she said.

"I would describe it as … minimising it, hiding it, not addressing it."

James Williams was 20 years old when, during Tyrendarra's end-of-year footy trip, he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl who was attending a concert in Adelaide's CBD with her mother.

Police charged him with rape.

He was bailed the next day and just months later was back playing football with his teammates.

For Ms Latham, this was unacceptable.

"I think they're saying there's no consequences, or, 'Sorry, we're not responsible for giving out consequences based on what you did on our football trip,'" she said.

"It was really disappointing and uncomfortable and frustrating too, that there didn't seem to be any action taken about it.

She quit without addressing it with club management.

"I didn't want to go through the process of them justifying that behaviour or trying to convince me," she said.

"Things like sexual assault are very stigmatised and I want to say around here, it can be really defended. And I didn't feel like I could have that conversation or argument … particularly [with] people that I'd grown so close to."

This story is part of the ABC's ongoing crowd-sourced series exploring cultural issues in grassroots football.

The footy trip

When Williams's case eventually made it to court, concerning details emerged about the night in question and the broader culture at the club.

After a day of drinking and drug-taking, Williams and some teammates decided to go to a gig in Adelaide's CBD.

During the show, Williams forcefully sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in front of her mother, the court heard.

She said, "No, stop". He said, "No, it's fine."

When the girl's mother attempted to stop him, Williams put his hand back up the girl's skirt and "glared at the victim's mother", the court heard.

Williams's lawyers said he was on "a cocktail of drugs" supplied by older teammates in a context of peer pressure.

Security ejected him. His friends asked why.

"Fingered a bird ha ha ha," he replied on Snapchat.

He was spotted by police on CCTV later that night, arrested and then released on bail, leaving the footy trip early.

Williams pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and was handed a 14-month jail sentence in April 2024.

By July of the following year, he was back at Tyrendarra playing senior football.

'A decision for the club and league'

The Tyrendarra Football Club is a powerhouse club in the South West District Football League (SWDFL) with 10 premierships to its name.

It prides itself as a club "backed by locals and built on country values".

The SWDFL operates under the governance of AFL Victoria, the state-level governing body for Australian Rules football, a subsidiary of the AFL.

The AFL provides country football clubs with a critical response guide that details how to handle situations such as sexual assault, recommending clubs contact the AFL for help.

"Dealing with a critical incident is incredibly challenging for organisations with full-time employees. It is even harder for volunteer-led football clubs," it reads.

When a sexual assault is reported, clubs are required to contact police and then report the matter through the AFL's integrity portal.

It's not known whether the matter was referred to the integrity portal.

The ABC provided the Tyrendarra Football Club with a detailed list of questions and 48 hours in which to respond.

The club said given the scope and complexity of the issues, and the timeframe given, it did not have adequate time to respond.

The ABC offered to extend the deadline to the following day. The club did not respond.

La Trobe University gender-based violence researcher Kirsty Forsdike said there was little transparency when sport controls integrity matters in-house.

"Their priority is more on brand [management] than it is more so on actually the safety of their members," she said.

"There is clearly an issue with culture at the grassroots level … we can't keep going, not doing anything because of the harm it's causing."

Erik Denison, who researches gender-based violence in sport at Monash University, said there was no evidence proving the AFL's current model did anything to change cultural issues.

"We see so often that the AFL, nothing happens with these investigations," Dr Denison said.

"This complaints system needs to be the last resort.

'Especially that club'

Megan Latham is not the only woman to walk out on the Tyrendarra Football Club.

Amy (to protect her identity, we are not using her real name) also left the club prior to the start of the 2023 season amid silence over the off-season incident.

She said the matter was kept "hush hush" and under wraps.

"Nothing was ever said to us … it was just like it didn't happen," she said.

She said she took the matter to some within the club who dismissed the assault as a "he-said, she-said" matter, even after Williams's guilty plea and conviction.

"I think some [people] also believe that he actually did no wrong," she said.

"That's the culture the club has.

"It was just like they all just believed he is innocent or that what happened was not as big a deal as everyone else is making it out to be.

Another women's footballer, Bronte (name changed for this story) also said no-one from the club mentioned the assault when Williams returned to play while on bail in 2023.

"I feel like it's something that definitely should have been told to us," she said. "I definitely think it was secretive and that we could have at least been given a heads-up."

The ABC understands the club wanted to support Williams with a second chance upon his return from prison.

Not everyone agreed.

"A lot of us didn't think he deserved to be around and to be playing," Bronte said.

He re-signed with the club in October 2025, with the club celebrating on social media the return of the "classy" midfielder as someone who will be "setting the standard", who lifts when the team needs him.

"When I saw that it was skin crawling, infuriating, I was just so frustrated and got so angry and [thought], 'How can this club justify this?'" Ms Latham said.

The AFL response

The ABC sent a detailed list of questions to the AFL, AFL Western Victoria and the Tyrendarra Football Club.

AFL Western Victoria referred the ABC to the national office.

An AFL spokesperson said it was a matter for the club.

"The decision around whether a person can or cannot play community football sits with the club and league, in this case, the Tyrendarra Football Club and the South West District Football Netball League," the spokesperson said.

"The AFL and AFL Victoria offer support to community clubs when dealing with club-based issues as needed."

The South West District Football Netball League has been contacted for comment.

AFLW commentator Chyloe Kurdas said footballers' off-field exploits should be scrutinised as much as what they do on field.

"If you're at a club season trip, you're at a fundraising event, you're there before your senior team plays … you're there in your remit as a footballer," she said.

"Therefore your behaviour in that context should be held accountable."

People or football

Every so often, Megan Latham thinks about playing football again.

She still has all her Tyrendarra playing gear; a number of her friends still play at the club.

But returning just isn't an option. There's no other women's football club within an hour of where she lives.

She blames herself, in part, for not speaking out sooner. It just wasn't something she felt comfortable doing at the time.

"I think the club really needs to look at the culture, the child safety aspects, [and] the way things are communicated," she said.

Amy likened the issues to a fish that rots from the head down. Bronte said the incident had crystallised the club's cultural problems for her.

Ms Latham said it was a defining moment.

"I think they need to look at themselves and work out what they stand for and what they want, and whether they're OK with it," she said.

"Or, at the end of the day, do they just care about doing well at footy?"