Andros Townsend's Terrifying Pitch Roller Incident in Thailand
Andros Townsend has called the moment he was run over by a pitch roller in Thailand “terrifying” – and it is hard to argue with him.
The 35-year-old former England winger, now playing for PT Prachuap in Thai League 1, was going through a routine warm-up in Pattani on Saturday when chaos suddenly cut across the pre-match calm. A member of staff appeared to lose control of a heavy pitch roller, which veered towards the players.
Townsend’s left leg was briefly trapped under the machine. For a split second, his career – already battered by serious injuries – looked in real danger.
Somehow, he walked away.
He not only avoided serious injury, he came off the bench later in the game as PT Prachuap cruised to a 3-0 win.
Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time on Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored, Townsend admitted he knows just how close he came to disaster.
“Every time I see it, I'm cringing, I'm in disbelief,” he said. “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.”
Townsend, capped 13 times by England and once a regular at Tottenham and Crystal Palace, said he had already clocked something unusual before kick-off. Two rollers were parked on either side of the pitch during the warm-up.
“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,” he said.
The next time he noticed one of them, it was on top of him.
“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.”
The winger described how he fought his way out from under the roller as it pinned his leg.
“It was quite heavy, but I was able to kind of lift [it], force it off me. So when it was completely on me, I was getting crushed a little bit,” he said.
“I was able to get my left arm up and relieve some of the pressure, and then I was able to get my team-mates around me who were able to lift it, and I was able to squeeze out. But at that moment where it was crushing my left leg, it was quite terrifying, I must say.”
Townsend’s fear was sharpened by his medical history. His left ankle and left knee have both gone under the surgeon’s knife. As the roller bore down, his mind went straight to those weak points.
“I thought, either my left ankle was going to snap or my left knee is 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.”
His team-mates expected him to stop. They told him to see a doctor, to sit it out. He refused.
Townsend, who has endured a string of setbacks across his career, insisted the incident was “definitely not going to stop me from continuing”.
They were stunned he carried on the warm-up. He was just relieved he could.
Later, he turned to humour. On Instagram, he referenced a recent post where he had jokingly compared a sun-soaked Thai away day with the notoriously bleak trips to Stoke's Bet365 Stadium.
“It turns out Stoke away wasn't so bad after all,” he wrote.
From a cold night in Stoke to a rogue roller in Thailand, Townsend has seen enough to know one thing: he is not done yet.
