Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently described himself as a “little bulldozer.” (File)
Sydney:
The purpose of politicians is to kiss children, not to crash into children.
But on the way to the campaign on Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison intercepted a young boy during a friendly kicker round, removing a chorus of shocking “Ooh” and “Aws” from the audience.
Morrison was playing five-a-side soccer in northern Tasmania, where he was trolling for votes ahead of Saturday’s nail-biter election.
At first, Morrison – wearing his jacket, but still wearing a shirt and tie – wanders around the field somewhat aimlessly, trying to get his toes on the ball here and there while pinging from boy to boy.
But then the 54-year-old added a gear to it, catching a cross-field pass that threatened the opponent’s pop-up mini-goal.
Morrison, who recently described himself as a “little bulldozer”, lowered his head and torso like an experienced sprinter, ready to burst blocks and move forward to block the pass.
Unfortunately, a small red-haired boy about two-thirds of Morrison’s size was on the way.
Morrison’s left shoulder goes straight into the face of the incredible child, both rolling on artificial turf – what one commentator called “Doing a Bojo”, a reference to a similar escape from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a friendly rugby match.
Realizing what he had done, Morrison threw his arm around the baby in a hug and lifted him off the ground, when a trainer immediately rushed to assess the head injury and the photographers quickly went into the fire.
Morrison’s teammates played, taking advantage of the man – and the boy – to drill the ball into the bottom right corner.
The shocking interjections turned into faint laughter when the young man dusted himself off and Morrison climbed to his feet terribly.
“Red card and face tribunal on Saturday,” said one Twitter commentator.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)
