AFL Star Drills 5-Year-Old Fan In Face With Long Kick, But He's OK!

A young Aussie Rules football fan's face met an unfortunate fate at a game over the weekend ... the poor kid got drilled by a ball from dozens of yards away, and multiple cameras shot the whole thing!

The incident all went down Sunday in Australia ... when Port Adelaide star Connor Rozee kicked a bullet through the uprights against St. Kilda.

A 5-year-old in the stands was hoisted up by his brother in an attempt to catch the ball as it came crashing down ... but the ball ended up clanking off the little guy's face!!

Check out the footage from several different angles ... the ball sadly smashed the hell out of Sonny Ah-Matt's dome -- and everyone watching was stunned!!

Fortunately, the little kid was a trooper ... and shook off the stinger no problem!!

"He was fine," Ah-Matt's mother told 9News Australia. "And then, at the end of the game, he's standing up, cheering and singing the song."

As for why the little guy tried to make the catch ... his brother explained he offered up $100 to Sonny if he could haul in the ball on the fly.

Not the best decision, considering the ball's basically half Ah-Matt's size -- but, hey, good job, good effort!

Ah-Matt's brother said he'd probably end up giving the little guy $50 for his troubles ... and Port Adelaide ended up getting the win -- so, good times all around for Sonny, we're sure.