Former England winger Andros Townsend has described the moment he was run over by a pitch roller in Thailand as ‘terrifying’, saying he was lucky to escape with only ‘bumps and bruises’.
The 35-year-old, who won 13 caps for England and previously played for Tottenham, Luton and Crystal Palace, is now with PT Prachuap in Thai League 1. He moved to Thailand in 2025 when he joined Kanchanaburi Power. Townsend was warming up for a match in Pattani on Saturday when a member of staff appeared to lose control of a heavy pitch roller. His left leg briefly got stuck under the vehicle, but he was unhurt, and he later came off the bench late on in a 3-0 win.
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 added: ‘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 said he had thought it strange to see two rollers on either side of the pitch during the warm-up. He remembered thinking: ‘I’ve never seen that before in my career, what are they doing?’ But he said the team was called to warm up and he did not 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,’ he said.
He described the physical struggle as the roller pressed down on him. ‘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 said he feared damage to his left ankle and left knee, both of which have been operated on. ‘I thought, either my left ankle was going to snap or my left knee is going to snap. I thought I was done,’ he said. ‘I was very fortunate that I was able to hobble away and recover within a few minutes.’
He said his team-mates were surprised that he continued the warm-up, with some telling him to go to the doctor. Townsend also made light of the incident on Instagram, referencing a recent post in which he compared a sun-drenched Thai away trip with previous visits to Stoke’s Bet365 Stadium. ‘It turns out Stoke away wasn’t so bad after all,’ he wrote. Townsend, who has had numerous injury setbacks during his career, said the incident would not stop him from continuing.