Andros Townsend has described being run over by a pitch roller in Thailand was “quite terrifying,” saying “I thought I was done” as teammates recoiled in horror at noticing the former England winger had gone under the heavy machinery.
Townsend, who now plays for Thai side PT Prachuap, remarkably escaped injury during the incident that occurred when he was participating in a ‘rondo’ during halftime of his team’s match.
Speaking about the incident for the first time on Piers Morgan‘s Football Uncensored, Townsend said: “Every time I see it, I’m cringing, I’m in disbelief,” he said.
“When I sent it to my kids, my kids thought it was AI. I had to explain to them for the next 10 minutes that it was real.
Read more:Andros Townsend run over by pitch roller in Thai league, escapes injury
“It’s horrible to watch back and to see what could have been, thankfully I was fortunate. I did manage to fall onto the floor at the right time, so nothing snapped as the roller went over me and I’m here today to laugh about it and to tell the story.”
Townsend, who joked that he has not pressed charges against the roller’s driver, has also played for Thai side Kanchanaburi Power since he left Europe after a spell at Turkish team Antalyaspor. He was last in English football with Luton Town in the 2023-24 campaign.
“At halftime we were going out to warm up and I’ve seen two rollers on the side of the pitch,” he said.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’ve never seen that before in my career, what are they doing?’ But we got called to warm-up. Didn’t think anything of it.
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“The next I saw him was when I was literally underneath him and thankfully no serious damage. A couple of bumps and bruises but managed to walk away unscathed, luckily.”
Townsend’s teammates could be seen turning away in shock and putting their hands on his head as they noticed the roller go over their teammate.
“They were very surprised that I continued the warm-up. They were telling me to go to the doctor, they were calling for the stretcher,” he said.
“But I’ve been around the block, I’ve had my setbacks, I’ve had my injury issues — a roller’s definitely not going to stop me from continuing, that’s for sure.”
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Townsend’s side PT Prachuap went on to win the game against Pattani 3-0 with Townsend himself featuring off the bench late on.
“I was thinking I was done. It was up my ankle which I’ve had operated on,” he added. “It was up my left knee which I’ve had operated on. I thought, either my left ankle’s going to snap or my left knee’s going to snap. I thought I was done. I was very fortunate that I was able to hobble away and recover within a few minutes.”
He first reacted to the incident on his Instagram story on Sunday, writing: “It turns out Stoke away wasn’t so bad after all.”
