SNP MSP breaks leg in kickabout with grandson, six

SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch Dave Thompson. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Dave Thompson broke his leg while enjoying an Easter Sunday kickabout with an opponent 59 years his junior.

The SNP member for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch said he heard a sickening “scrunch” as a bone on his lower left leg gave way.

Mr Thompson, from Inverness, whose “day job” includes sitting on the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee, has vowed from now on to stick to watching football.

He faces wearing a stookie for six weeks, meaning he will literally have to sit out the election campaign.

He said: “We were hiding eggs in the garden for four of my grandchildren and having a nice afternoon on Easter Sunday.”

“My grandson Jude, who is six, was wanting to play football. I obliged.

“I fell badly - tripped and fell badly on the left leg. I heard it make a scrunching sound as I went down.

“I thought, ‘That doesn’t sound good’.

“I hobbled into the house. I thought I’d just badly sprained it. It started swelling. I called NHS 24 and when I told them they said I should go to accident and emergency.”

He continued: “They’ve put a temporary plaster on it - a cast that leaves a bit open. With the swelling they didn’t want to completely enclose it.

“They x-rayed it and the bone is sitting quite nicely together. I should have known better at my age.”

It is not the first time the keen amateur footballer has been injured during a kick around.

“I used to play quite a lot when I was younger, 11 a side in my teens and five a side in my 20s and 30s,” said Mr Thompson.

“I broke my arm playing football when I was 19. I was never a brilliant footballer,” he laughed. “I’ll be watching the football next time.”

Mr Thompson has already been out on the campaign trail with SNP hopeful Ian Blackford - standing against defending Lib Dem MP Charles Kennedy.

“I’m sitting here with my feet up,” continued Mr Thompson. I’ll not be able to knock doors, that’s for sure.”

Although he is planning to work from home, he added: “I’ve got a wee office in the house, but its upstairs.”

In February, fellow SNP politician Fraser McAllister needed a helicopter rescue after smashing his eye socket and leaving part of his skull exposed in a collision with a rock while sledging.

The 61-year-old councillor was playing in the snow with his grandchildren hills near Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway when the horror accident happened.