Embarrassing moment South Australian premier hits a child directly in the face with a football
- SA Premier Peter Malinauskas filmed launching football into kid’s face
- Premier’s handball to four-year-old during school visit goes badly wrong
- Child appears to recover quickly and the incident prompts much hilarity
- Comparisons made to Scott Morrison’s soccer mishap with eight-year-old
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has once again shown that politicians, sport and children can be a painful mix after he was caught on film handballing a football directly into a child’s face.
Mr Malinauskas was having some fun with the screaming children of Colonel Light Gardens Primary School, in Adelaide’s southeast, by trading handballs with a red-headed boy on the playground.
But the drill went wrong when the premier hit his intended target squarely in the face, much to the amusement of his entourage and also some of the children.
Unfortunately he launched the ball a bit high and bit hard for the boy to catch.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas continued the tradition of politicians inflicting mishap on children when playing sport by handballing a ball into a four-year-old’s face
The boy, however, did not appear too fussed and appeared to be smiling as he quickly scooped up the ball.
Mr Malinauskas began moving away but then headed back to check the child was OK and gave him a friendly ruffle of his read hair.
South Australia’s Education Department confirmed the four-year-old child was not hurt.
Despite copping the blow the child appears to recover quickly and instantly grabs the ball, prompting the premier to move on with his visit
Noticing the reaction of people around him, which was mainly laughter, the premier moves back to check the child is OK and ends the encounter by giving him a quick hair ruffle
The Premier was visiting the school to announce his government’s $100 per child subsidy on school materials and services, which will be paid to parents of primary and secondary age students over the next two years.
The clip on Nine’s Instagram page attracted comparisons to former prime minister Scott Morrison’s effort in bowling over eight-year-old Luca Fauvette while playing soccer with a Tasmanian junior club during the election campaign in May.
Scott Morrison seemingly mistook soccer for rugby when he ended up tackling eight-year-old Luca Fauvette during an election photo op with the Tasmanian junior soccer club
Luca, who plays for the Devonport Strikers Soccer Club, later confirmed he was OK and even received a call from Mr Morrison that night to check.
‘Good as Scomo’s tackle,’ one user wrote of Mr Malinauskas’s handball.
‘At least he didn’t fall on the kid,’ wrote another.
UK Prime Minister flattens a 10-year-old Toki Sekiguchi while playing touch rugby in Japan in 2015
It’s not just Australian politicians who children should be wary of when playing sport.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was filmed thoroughly cleaning up 10-year-old Toki Sekiguchi while playing touch rugby in Japan in 2015.
Toki emerged from the encounter with Mr Johnson’s shoulder saying he was OK.