Andros Townsend Recalls Terrifying Pitch Roller Incident in Thailand
Andros Townsend has called the moment he was run over by a pitch roller in Thailand “terrifying” – and watching it back hasn’t got any easier.
The 35-year-old former England winger, now playing for PT Prachuap in Thai League 1, was going through his warm-up in Pattani on Saturday when chaos broke out on the touchline. A member of staff appeared to lose control of a heavy pitch roller, which suddenly veered towards the players.
Townsend’s left leg was briefly trapped under the machine. For a split second, he thought his career was over.
“Every time I see it, I'm cringing, I'm in disbelief,” he told Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored, speaking about the incident for the first time. “It's horrible to watch back and to see what could have been.”
The footage shows the roller clipping him and dragging him underneath. Townsend somehow twists his body, hits the turf and avoids the full weight of the vehicle going through his leg.
“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,” he said.
He escaped with what he called “a couple of bumps and bruises” and, remarkably, carried on. Townsend came off the bench later in the game as PT Prachuap cruised to a 3-0 win.
‘I thought I was done’
Townsend has known real injury hardship. Operations on his left ankle and left knee have already carved chunks out of his career. As the roller pinned his leg, those old scars were the first thing on his mind.
“I thought, either my left ankle was going to snap or my left knee is going to snap. I thought I was done,” he admitted. “I was very fortunate that I was able to hobble away and recover within a few minutes.”
The winger described how he fought his way out from under the machine.
“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.”
His team-mates urged him to head straight for the doctor. Townsend refused. He finished the warm-up.
“They were very surprised that I continued the warm-up. They were telling me to go to the doctor,” he said, but he was adamant the incident was “definitely not going to stop me from continuing.”
‘What are they doing?’
Even before the accident, something had felt off.
Townsend, who won 13 caps for England and played for Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Luton, said the whole set-up had struck him as unusual.
He noticed two rollers, one on each side of the pitch, while the players were preparing.
“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.
Seconds later, he was underneath one of them.
“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.”
From Stoke away to Thai chaos
Townsend has tried to keep the mood light since. On Instagram, he joked about a post he had made recently comparing a sun-soaked Thai away day with the more familiar chill of Stoke’s Bet365 Stadium.
“It turns out Stoke away wasn't so bad after all,” he wrote.
For a player who has battled back from serious injuries, a runaway pitch roller in Thailand could easily have been the freak moment that ended everything. Instead, he walked away, came on in a 3-0 win, and carried on.
The scars this time are mostly mental. The determination, clearly, is not going anywhere.
