A cameraman working for Fox at a UFL football game was left bloodied after a player smashed into him on the sideline.
Dave Hoffman was filming close to the sideline during the between the Louisville Kings and Columbus Aviators on Sunday night at Historic Crew Stadium.
But Hoffman was sent crashing to the turf when a Louisville player clattered into him at speed.
Hoffman suffered a nasty collision with the team’s bench on his way to the ground, sparking concern among those around him. He sat there in pain and grabbed at the wound on his head.
‘So, watch Dave Hoffman, our cameraman right on the sideline,’ commentator Kevin Kugler said while Fox showed a replay. ‘And Dave just gets blasted.’
‘But Dave’s tough, though,’ his colleague Joe Klatt added.
A Fox cameraman was left bloodied after a football player smashed into him on the sideline
Dave Hoffman was sent crashing to the turf when a Louisville player clattered into him at speed
Hoffman struck the team’s bench, sat there in pain and grabbed at the wound on his head
Moments later, a different camera cut to Hoffman and it showed a medic applying a bandage to a cut on his head.
‘Yes, Dave,’ Klatt continued, as Hoffman pretended to blow a kiss towards the camera as he received treatment.
‘Dave works with us on college football on Big Noon. There he is. Nothing’s gonna keep him down… I guarantee you Dave is telling those guys, like, “Guys, I’m good. Don’t you worry about me.”
‘Dave Hoffman is an absolute soldier, man. He works his butt off. He’s terrific at what he does. Love seeing him in the fall. Love seeing him out here at the UFL.’
‘And you’ll see him again in the fall, because that one little shot’s not going to keep him down,’ Kugler added.
It is not the first time that a cameraman has taken a blow while covering some of sport’s biggest stars.
At last month’s PGA Championship, American golfer Wyndham Clark came close to wiping out a spectator with a mishit that struck a TV camera.
The 32-year-old found himself buried deep in the thick rough along the left side of the 11th fairway on a chaotic second day of the championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Philadelphia.
Wyndham Clark nearly wiped out a fan at the PGA Championship when he struck a TV camera
While the former US Open winner managed to hack his ball out of the treacherous lie, his shot did not make it very far.
Around 50 spectators, including a cameraman, were gathered around Clark and his caddie as the world No 70 addressed the shot unknowingly putting themself at peril.
After Clark made contact with the ball, it spun out of the long grass, flaring at an angle to his left. The ball, traveling at speed, hit the lens of the cameraman’s camera balancing on his shoulder from just 10 yards away, jostling him with the impact.
A startled girl to the right of the cameraman was left stricken by the near miss, ducking and covering her head.
In a clip shared to social media, the ball appeared to ricochet off the camera and appeared to land somewhere to the left.
Fortunately, no one appeared to be injured. However, it was a dangerously close call for the lurking spectators.
