Former English striker Andros Townsend survived a serious injury after he was exposed to an unusual accident, when he was struck by a machine designed to roll the field during the warm-up period between the two halves of a match in the Thai Premier League.
According to Reuters, the accident occurred last Saturday while Townsend (35 years old) was conducting warm-up exercises with his teammates in the “Prachuap” team in preparation for facing the “Pattani” team.
The former Tottenham player did not notice the approach of the automatic rolling machine, driven by one of the stadium workers, after he left the warm-up area to try to pass the ball, which led to it colliding with him and him falling to the ground, before the machine advanced over his legs, reaching almost to the waist area, so the driver quickly intervened and jumped to lift it off the player.
Despite the seriousness of the incident, Townsend succeeded in getting up and continuing the warm-up, and even later participated as a substitute in the final minutes of the match, contributing to his team’s comfortable victory (3-0) without sustaining serious injuries.
After the match ended, Townsend commented on the incident in a sarcastic manner via his account on the “Instagram” platform, writing: “It turns out that playing away from home to Stoke was not that bad,” recalling the historical reputation of Stoke City Stadium for its difficulty for opponents.
The incident sparked widespread reaction due to its strangeness and the danger of a heavy machine passing over the lower part of the player’s body, who was able to return to the field and resume its atmosphere in a short time.
