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‘Should have been a penalty’: Boy crash-tackled by PM gives his verdict

Watch Scott Morrison take out the small boy

The seven-year-old boy crash-tackled to the ground by Scott Morrison has declared the PM deserved a penalty for the over-enthusiastic hit.

Luca Fauvette held up a red card when he appeared on the Nine Network on Thursday with his grandmother, Joy, to discuss Mr Morrison’s unlikely hit while campaigning in Tasmania.

“We were playing soccer and I think someone tried to pass [the ball] to me or Mr Morrison, and what happened – he tripped and he was trying not to fall on top of me. So he tried to fall underneath me,” he told the Today show.

Asked what he thought of the PM’s rough tackle, Luca had one simple idea:

“It should have been a penalty,” he said.

Luca, who was unhurt, also revealed that Mr Morrison phoned him later on Wednesday, to check he was OK after being knocked to the ground during a mock match with the Devonport Strikers’ under-eights team in northern Tasmania.

Joy said it was a bit of a shock to see her grandson crash to the ground, but it was quickly obvious he hadn’t been injured.

“I could see how [Mr Morrison] was trying to protect him and keep him from being hurt by his body weight and then Luca got up pretty soon afterwards so I could see was all right,” she said.

Coalition frontbencher Stuart Robert also discussed the unfortunate tackle on Thursday, suggesting both Mr Morrison and young Luca were at fault.

“Poor little boy, I think he was pretty good, there was a high five afterwards. So it was just an error from both of them,” he told morning radio.

“He seems fine. I think when you get out there and you kick a footy with the Prime Minister, these things can happen. I think the little boy is all great, and I think he’s a rock star at school today.”

The incident, which happened in the full glare of the press track trailing Mr Morrison on the campaign trail, has made global headlines and has been quickly turned into a meme online.

It also revived memories of British PM Boris Johnson’s similar run-in with a 10-year-old boy during a game of touch rugby in Tokyo in 2015. Mr Johnson, who was London’s mayor at the time, bowled over young Toki Sekiguchi as he raced down the pitch, focused on the try line.

Fortunately Toki, like Luka, was unharmed and soon up and running again.

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Despite all the publicity, Luca told Today he wasn’t sure if he was going to be a star with his schoolmates.

“I’m not sure what they’re going to think. They’re probably all shocked right now,” he said.

Shortly after the hit, Mr Morrison joked the Strikers could use him as a “bulldozer” to upgrade their old grandstand. Addressing the club’s parents and kids, Mr Morrison took it all in his stride.

“I look forward to coming back on another occasion. I think that when that grandstand comes down, I hear it might need a bit of a bulldozer to knock it down, so I might be able to help with that,” he said.

Mr Morrison was at the club in the final days of campaigning for Saturday’s federal election after local Braddon MP Gavin Pearce announced upgrades to the ground’s facilities if the Coalition is re-elected.

The PM began Thursday with another visit to Tasmania’s other marginal seat, Bass. He was then expected to head to Sydney, before finishing the day in Perth.

It is not yet known if more unexpected contact sports are on his campaign agenda.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese was campaigning in Brisbane on Thursday.

-with AAP

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