Career
His early years with Footscray were nonetheless patchy, and he lost his place in the senior side after a slump in 1974 and again in 1976 – though he returned to play well in the last round draw with Carlton and in his only final against Geelong a week later. Paradoxically, it was whilst Footscray were declining from the middle bracket to perennial contenders for the wooden spoon with Street Kilda and Melbourne that Dunstan rose to the heights not only of Footscray"s top running players, but even to representing Victoria. On 1 July 1978 Dunstan and Kelvin Templeton kicked against Street Kilda a record VFL/American Federation of Labor-Congress total for two players in one team of 22 goals 12 behinds (144 points), narrowly beating the total of Doug Strang and Jack Titus for Richmond against North Melbourne on 9 May 1931.
Of this Dunstan kicked seven goals, three behinds but had over thirty kicks overall, many of which led to Templeton"s record total of twenty-four scoring shots, which contributed to Footscray breaking Carlton"s 1969 record VFL score.
During the last quarter it was said that Dunstan, who never otherwise kicked five in a match, aimed to reach double figures. As a result of this and other performances, Dunstan represented Victoria several times in the last three years of the late 1970s.
He did not play a senior match in 1983 owing to injury and his debut for North Melbourne proved to be embarrassing, with the Kangaroos going down by 137 points to Carlton. He played the first three games in the seniors but it was clear his best days were beyond him and afterward he played only three more senior matches.
At the end of 1984 Ian Dunstan retired from the VFL and played briefly with Werribee in the Victorian Football Association.
He later joined struggling Association club Sunshine where he had the unfortunate fate to be coach of the senior club when it was expelled from the competition mid-season in 1989.
