A road roller runs over a footballer, his reaction shocks even more | OneFootball

Footballer run over during warm-up

Football is used to mistimed challenges, but this one probably won’t appear in any refereeing manual. Andros Townsend, former Tottenham and Crystal Palace player, was run over by a grass roller while warming up with PT Prachuap during a Thai League match.

The surreal scene took place on Saturday during the game against Pattani. Townsend was taking part in a rondo at half-time when he ended up in the machine’s path. The roller knocked him over and rolled onto his left leg, leaving him partially trapped. The footage shows the driver stopping the vehicle while the footballer’s teammates rush over to help him.

Fortunately, the scare was just that. Townsend was able to continue warming up and later even came onto the pitch in his team’s 0-3 victory.

The 35-year-old player himself, capped 13 times by England, explained this Tuesday how he experienced a few seconds that were far less funny than they now seem on social media. “I thought I was done,” he admitted on Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored. Townsend explained that he managed to fall at just the right moment to stop his leg from ending up in an even more dangerous position.

Once he had made sure he was able to live to tell the tale, he got his sense of humour back. On Instagram he shared the footage and recalled those dreaded Premier League visits to Stoke City: “Turns out playing away at Stoke wasn’t so bad after all.”

He also revealed an unexpected consequence. When he sent the video to his children, they thought it had been generated by artificial intelligence, and he had to convince them it was real.

Looking at the footage, it is hard to blame them. In 2026, we already doubt any strange video on the internet. This time, incredible as it may seem, no AI was needed: just a rondo and a roller.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.