Andrew Durante of the Phoenix. Photo / Getty Images.
Wellington Phoenix captain Andrew Durante has opened up on the incredible moment he was shot in the chest on the sideline of a football match 20 years ago.
Durante had been substituted from the field during a trial match for Sydney Olympic's reserve team in 1999 when one of his
teammates noticed blood stains on his white playing shirt.
"My dad lifted up my shirt and I had this blood dripping down my chest and he was like 'you've been shot'," Durante told Stuff. "Then obviously there was a bit of a frenzy and everyone was screaming 'he's been shot, he's been shot'. The game got scrapped straight away and everyone ran to the changing rooms at the opposite end of the field."
Durante was just 17 when the .22 calibre rifle pierced his skin at Mahoney Park in Sydney's inner west and though he escaped without any serious injuries said it was still a traumatic experience to go through.
"I was thinking the worst," Durante told Stuff. "It came through my chest but on an angle and the bullet lodged under my armpit. I could actually feel it lodged under there so the doctor gave me a local, did an incision and pulled it out. I think it was a .22 calibre rifle. There was a big inquiry, the police got involved.
