Prime Minister Scott Morrison crashes into a young footballer

A young soccer player has been praised for his determination and for being a good sportsman after being crushed to the ground by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Mr Morrison joined Under-8s training at the Devonport Strikers club in Tasmania while out campaigning on Wednesday.

But taking his self-dubbed “bulldozer”* title to a new level, he accidentally knocked down Luca Lark, prompting gasps and awkward laughter from the side of the field.

Mr Morrison appeared to stumble and lose his footing, enveloping Luca as he fell to the ground.

It sparked side jokes that Mr Morrison, who likes to try his hand at all sports, might have forgotten which code he was playing.

Mr Morrison quickly patted Luca on the back and then gave him a high-five to check he was okay.

Luca, 8, said he was uninjured in the crash but said he should have been awarded a free kick.

“I think someone tried to pass (the ball) to me or Mr Morrison and he tripped and he was trying not to fall on top of me so he tried to fall under me,” Luca said. on the Today TV show the next morning. .

“He told me that I was a good sportsman.”

Under-8 football coach Keegan Smith said Luca was “tough as hell” and emerged from the incident with a smile on his face.

“He’s probably more than three times more accurate training with the boys,” Mr Smith said.

“He had a huge smile on his face and I think he ended up scoring a goal after that too.”

Mr Morrison made a late afternoon visit to the electorate* of Braddon to announce a $3.5 million upgrade to the grounds and facilities at the Valley Road football ground, if he is elected.

On Wednesday evening, Mr Morrison said he spoke to Luca and his mother, Ali.

“Big thanks to young Luca for being such a great sport,” Mr Morrison wrote on Facebook.

“You may have seen that we had a little collision in club training tonight at Devonport Strikers Football Club in Tasmania.

“I spoke to Luca and his mum Ali tonight to check on him and he was fit. It’s great to be able to chat with him about his love of football and to hear that he has already scored three hat tricks in his fledgling career.

Luca’s club also showed their support.

“Our club’s values ​​are determination, effort and respect,” the club wrote. “We believe that Luca showed a lot of determination and effort to stop the Prime Minister’s score at all costs!

“The latest star of the election is doing well and looking forward to being the star of the show at school tomorrow.”

Mr Morrison, who last week described himself as ‘a bit of a bulldozer’, was visiting Tasmania three days before the federal election.

Australians will vote to elect the next government on Saturday, with pre-election polls showing it will be a close contest.

Mr Morrison leads the Liberal Party, which hopes to form a government in a coalition* with the Nationals, while Opposition leader Anthony Albanese leads the Labor Party and hopes to become Australia’s 31st Prime Minister.

GLOSSARY

• self-doubled: when someone gives themselves an unofficial title or nickname
• electorate: a region represented by a deputy. Each electorate has candidates who hope to win the most votes and therefore be elected to parliament
• coalition: a partnership formed when two or more political parties agree to work together

FURTHER READING

Australia is at the polls

Register, vote and eat a democracy sausage!

Inside Australia’s Best Work

In the election campaign

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which football club did Prime Minister Scott Morrison visit?
2. How did Mr. Morrison describe himself?
3. According to Luca, what caused the accident?
4. How did the Under-8 football manager describe Luca?
5. Who is trying to become Australia’s 31st Prime Minister?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASS ACTIVITIES
1. Draw a cartoon
Draw a cartoon based on this story. Your cartoon should say something about the election or Scott Morrison.

Time: allow 20 minutes for this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Communication Design, Civics and Citizenship

2. Extension
Write a letter. The purpose of your letter will be to help the loser of the federal election be a good sportsman about the outcome. Your letter should explain why it is important to be a good athlete and give advice on what they can do to be a good athlete.

Time: allow 25 minutes for this activity
Curriculum links: English, personal and social skills, civics and citizenship

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read it!
A headline on an article – or a headline on your text – should grab the audience’s attention, telling them to read it now. It is therefore very important to choose the perfect words for a title or title.

Create three new titles for the events that took place in this article. Remember that what you write and how you write it will determine the rhythm of the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read your headlines to a partner and discuss the topic of the article based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in a few short words. Does this do justice to the article? Will it capture the audience’s attention as you hoped? Would you like to know more?

Consider how a title or title is similar to using short, precise sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complexes. Review the last piece of text you wrote and highlight any short, to-the-point sentences that captivate the audience.