Memorable Australian political sport fails

1. Scott Morrison

Mr Morrison was visiting the marginal Liberal seat of Braddon in Tasmania when he accidentally ran into Luca Fauvette on Wednesday evening, taking him down.

The eight-year-old was fine, though, musing to Nine's Today show, "It should have been a penalty."

The prime minister checked up on the boy afterwards and said on Thursday he was a great sport who now had a story to spin for many years to come.

"Luca is in great shape, and he probably came off a little better than I did because I hit the ground with quite the thud," Mr Morrison said.

2. John Howard

Former Liberal prime minister John Howard was visiting Pakistan in 2005 when he bowled arguably some of the worst deliveries ever caught on camera.

Mr Howard tried to start off strong, only for the first ball to land unceremoniously just ahead of his feet.

He attempted three bowls, and none made it to the batsman.

However, there has been some conjecture in recent years about whether he was doomed to fail - Mr Howard has claimed the ball was essentially a tennis ball with some tape wrapped around it, and it became stuck to his hand.

3. Malcolm Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull had a crack at shooting some hoops at Willetton Basketball Stadium in Perth in 2017, only for his attempt to be labelled disastrous.

Mr Turnbull, with a crowd of spectators watching on, made a one-armed shot at the basket from nearly under it, only for the ball to hit the rim and bounce back.

The former Liberal prime minister's lacklustre shot was compared to Mr Howard's bowling fail.

4. Bob Hawke

It is well known Bob Hawke loved cricket, but he got a rude shock when he copped a ball to the face during a friendly game between his staff and the press gallery in 1984.

Footage of the incident shows the former Labor prime minister going to bat when the ball struck him in the face.

He put his head to his hands and dropped to the ground. It was later revealed his eye was cut when the ball smashed the lens of his glasses.

Mr Hawke was hospitalised, but he later returned to the ground to watch the game.

5. Bob Carr

In a far less dramatic turn of events, it came out in the early 2000s that then-NSW premier and eventual foreign minister Bob Carr was inclined to read a book at rugby league games.

The topic was brought up at a NSW corruption inquiry about a controversial project that was a joint venture with NRL team the Bulldogs.

Fairfax papers reported in 2002 that when Bulldogs officials came knocking to talk to Mr Carr about the development, he was more interested in talking to broadcaster Alan Jones.

Ex-bulldogs chairman Gary McIntyre said when the premier attended games, he would "go up the back and read a book".

Australian Associated Press