Former Hawthorn and Brisbane player and sporting filmmaker Robert Dickson and his young son Byron have died in a car accident in South Africa.

Dickson, 45, and Byron, 5, were killed after their car crashed on the road between Sun City and Pretoria.

His wife Dusty and son Gabriel were being treated in hospital for injuries although details of their condition were unclear.

Dickson worked on a number of film projects for the AFL and recently completed The Essence of the Game, a program tracing Hawthorn's rise to the premiership last year.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou described Dickson as a talented and humble man.

"Rob was a personal friend and a great and positive force in life," Demetriou said.

"He was a wonderful filmmaker but above all he was a wonderful person who brought enormous empathy to what he was doing, whether it was filming an Auskick clinic or Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn captain) standing in the middle of the MCG savouring a premiership medal.

"He was one of those rare people who could capture on film the passion and beauty of the game and to articulate in images exactly what we all love about the game but struggle to be able to put into words."

Dickson was on a family holiday when the accident happened. He was due to join the AIS AFL Academy tour of South Africa next week.

Dickson's brother Don said the family was shattered by the news of the accident and family members were flying to South Africa.

Dickson played 17 games for Hawthorn from 1988-90 and two games for Brisbane in 1991.

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