Andros Townsend Describes Terrifying Pitch Roller Incident in Thailand

Andros Townsend has relived the moment a pitch roller ran over his leg in Thailand, describing the incident as “terrifying” and admitting he thought his career might be over.

The 35-year-old former Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Luton winger, now playing for PT Prachuap in Thai League 1, was warming up for a match in Pattani on Saturday when chaos broke out on the touchline. A member of staff appeared to lose control of a heavy roller being used on the surface. Within seconds, Townsend was underneath it.

His left leg was briefly trapped under the machine. Remarkably, he escaped without serious injury and later came off the bench in a 3-0 win.

Speaking about the incident for the first time on Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored, Townsend did not play down how close he felt he was 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.”

He admitted he had already clocked something unusual before the warm-up even began.

“I remember thinking to myself, 'I've never seen that before in my career, what are they doing?'” he said of the sight of two rollers stationed on either side of the pitch. “But we got called to warm-up. Didn't think anything of it.

“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 pressure finally told while he was trapped. Townsend recalled the weight of the roller crushing down on his leg and the scramble to get free.

“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.

“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.”

Given his history of serious injuries, Townsend’s mind immediately went to the weakest points in his body.

“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.”

Team-mates urged him to seek medical attention and abandon the warm-up. He refused.

“They were very surprised that I continued the warm-up. They were telling me to go to the doctor,” he said, but insisted the incident was “definitely not going to stop me from continuing”.

Townsend, who has 13 England caps and has battled back from multiple setbacks throughout his career, chose to defuse the drama with a joke on social media. On Instagram he referenced a recent post in which he compared a sun-soaked Thai away day to the far less glamorous experience of visiting Stoke's Bet365 Stadium.

“It turns out Stoke away wasn't so bad after all,” he wrote.

A near miss in Pattani, a few bumps and bruises, and Townsend is still running. The roller didn’t stop him. Very little has.