Former AFL football star David Wirrpanda has been fined $900 and lost his driver's licence for 10 months after a court found him guilty on Tuesday of driving under the influence.

"Wirrpanda didn't appear in court in person. He had a lawyer represent him and he made an endorsed plea of guilty to driving under the influence," Channel 7 reporter Jamie Freestone told Radio 6PR.

"The reading was 0.154, more than three times the legal limit."

​David Wirrpanda fronted the media to confess to the incident and charge on April 22, after being pulled over by a booze bus on April 10 after watching West Coast's win over Carlton.

The 35-year-old said he got a "bit excited" after the game and had too much to drink. Frustrated after having trouble getting a taxi, he had elected to drive himself.

Wirrpanda said the decision was "unacceptable" and he was prepared to take those consequences on the chin.

Wirrpanda was once an ambassador for the now-defunct National Road Safety Council and his charity Wirrpanda Foundation aims to improve the lives of young people, with a strong mentoring focus.

It receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in both corporate and state government funding.

Wirrpanda said after the charge he got in touch with supporters of the Wirrpanda Foundation, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

"I'm keen to continue on with all the work we are doing," he said.

"I'm one of those people who prides myself on making the right decisions and doing the right things in life and I kind of promote that, [it's] what I do for a living – but [this decision] I now regret and I'm very apologetic."

Wirrpanda Foundation chief executive Lisa Cunningham said the foundation had contacted its sponsors.

"I think people are seeing it as a personal matter – I have had no negative feedback," she said.

"I am confident the programs will be unaffected at this stage.

"We've got 54 staff here and David is not involved in the day-to-day running of the programs."

The Office of Road Safety delivers a road safety program to hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teenagers each year through three Wirrpanda Foundation programs – Troy Cook Health & Leadership, Kwinana Aboriginal Driver Training Program and Deadly Sista Girlz.

"Our aim is to deliver messages relating to risky behaviour," a spokeswoman said.

She said the foundation produced two reports annually to show the project's objectives were being met.

Another major sponsor of the Wirrpanda Foundation, the Department of Corrective Services, supported the 12-month Moorditj Ngoorndiak pilot program with a $320,000 grant.

The program, the name of which means "good thinking" or "clear in mind", mentors Aboriginal teenage boys both in juvenile detention and after release with the aim to reduce their high repeat offending rate.

"Many people in public life have broken the law and have paid the penalty," a department spokeswoman said.

"David Wirrpanda ... has made a mistake, he faces sanctions under the law and he has handled the matter in a dignified and respectful manner.

"Mr Wirrpanda is a well-respected person of high integrity, who has a strong sense of community service and public duty. He has apologised, taken responsibility and accepted the consequences. These are the actions of a good role model.

"The department ... considers the Wirrpanda Foundation's mentoring program to be an investment in Aboriginal youth.

"Foundation mentors are working with young offenders and their family members to prepare them for their reintegration into the community. Research shows that a solid support network can be the difference between a young person failing to realise their potential and turning their life around."

The spokeswoman said the department would evaluate the program's effectiveness before the grant agreement ended in March 2016.

Other sponsors contacted by Fairfax Media had similar responses.

Victorian Women's Benevolent Trust executive director Mary Crooks said the trust's grants for the Deadly Sista Girlz program had helped girls make appropriate healthy lifestyle choices through successful programs at Weeroona College in Bendigo.

"The foundation does a great deal of important work across the Australian community and one mistake, honestly conceded, by David Wirrpanda does not alter this impressive track record," she said.

"It is up to the Wirrpanda Foundation, along with every other organisation that operates in the public domain, to establish and communicate with their constituencies that the matter of drink-driving does not sit appropriately or comfortably with the issue of creating and maintaining healthy lifestyles.

"We respect the manner in which David Wirrpanda has conceded that he has done the wrong thing."

Recruited by the Eagles from Victoria in 1995, Wirrpanda became the youngest-ever West Coast debutant in round five of 1996 at just 16 years and 268 days.

He went on to play 227 games, was a premiership player in 2006 and earned an All-Australian jumper in 2005.

Wirrpanda was an unsuccessful National Party candidate at the 2013 federal election.

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