Football superstar uses surfing know-how to save mother, daughter and friend from tragic drowning: “A family got caught in a rip and there was pretty big swell yesterday so I just paddled out and helped them get back in!”

"The ocean is a powerful beast."

Surfing is often thought of as selfish and utterly pointless but once every so often a little shred knowledge is the difference between life and death. Take, for example, yesterday’s tale of decorated footballer Patrick Dangerfield saving a whole family from Davey Jones’ Locker and you may be racking your brain right now trying to think for which NFL team Dangerfield plays but it is not that football, rather the evolved version known as Australian Rules.

Now, whilst I barrack for the Collingwood Magpies, Dangerfield stars for the Geelong Cats down near Torquay and was on the beach with his children when he became aware of a group of people being swept out to sea.

“A family got caught in a rip and there was pretty big swell yesterday so I just paddled out and helped them get back in,” the 31-year-old calmly told Australia’s 9News.

Bystanders say that Dangerfield saw the commotion and without hesitation grabbed his surfboard and effortlessly duck-dove (dived?) though the Sunset-esque waves and kept them all afloat for over fifteen minutes until helped arrived via sled.

Julie Sebkova, one of the saved, said that Dangerfield told her to “hold on to my foot and we will get through this.”

Like John Wayne.

Luckily the family’s all okay and that’s the important thing,” Dangerfield benevolently added. “It’s important to be careful but at the same time, these things happen and the ocean is a powerful beast and it was just an unfortunate set of circumstances but the main thing is they are all okay and don’t have a fear of the ocean after that.”