Hampton Rovers’ under-19s had an unusual pre-game warm-up on Saturday

Hampton Rovers’ under-19s team had a unique pre-game warm-up on Saturday, tackling a hot-air balloon basket, and it proved effective. See the video here.

Hampton Rovers players move a hot-air balloon basket. Picture: Hampton Rovers Twitter

“Hopefully that’s the strangest thing I ever get a team to do.”

Hampton Rovers under-19s coach Paul Carrigan had never seen anything like it in his 30 years in local football.

A hot-air balloon parked right in the middle of Crawford Oval in Carlton just before its VAFA Division 1 match against Uni Blacks was due to kick off on Saturday morning.

Unbelievably, it was left to the players themselves to clear the basket and packed-away balloon off the ground.

“It was crazy, I’ve been involved in footy since the 1980s and this is definitely a first,” Carrigan said.

A hot air balloon delayed play at Crawford Oval today. Thankfully 44 sets of muscles were on hand to clear the deck & the Rovers U19's got the job done running out big winners over Uni Blacks. #AFL#goroverspic.twitter.com/zErtKajM7H

— Hampton Rovers FC (@hamptonrovers) April 27, 2024

“The hot air balloon literally landed smack bang in the middle of the oval just as I turned up to the ground – it was quite a spectacle to stand there and watch.

“The people that were in the balloon all departed and the company that packed up, they packed up and left, literally just walked away.

“We were five minutes away from the start of the game so it was all hands on deck.

“It was sitting at true centre half-forward at one end, and there’s this big bag where they’ve put the balloon in, it would have been there for a good 15 minutes.

“I thought it would take four or five of us to pick it up but it didn’t happen.

“I took three quarters of the team and four or five of the opposition to grab the bag with the balloon in it, so it would have been a 22-man team to get it all off the ground.”

Thanks to Rovers and Blacks manpower, the game kicked off as scheduled.

The visitors, perhaps inspired by their pre-game weightlifting, came away with a comprehensive 62-point win.

Benjo Wells booted four goals, while Kai Carrigan and Lachlan Celantano were the team’s best afield in the 16.12 (108) to 6.10 (46) victory.

“Thank god we didn’t pull a muscle because we were down to 19 blokes as it was after a couple of guys went up to the seniors,” Carrigan said.

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“It was a good day, there were plenty of positive and we ended up having a nice win.

“Uni Blacks hosted us and they were unreal, we did a guard of honour for Anzac Day and their president spoke exceptional well.”

The win sees Rovers continue their undefeated start to the season, sitting second on percentage behind St Bernard’s.

Hampton’s senior team, under coach Marty Pask, are also undefeated but on top of the Premier C ladder, after defeating Monash Blues by 67 points.