NEARLY 1,000 football clubs will receive defibrillators in the wake of Fabrice Muamba’s cardiac arrest a year ago.
The Football Association will make more than 900 of the potentially life-saving devices available to Premier League and Football League clubs after signing a deal with the British Heart Foundation.
The British Heart Foundation has agreed to match a £400,000 donation from the FA to help save lives of future victims.
The move follows Muamba’s cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match between Tottenham and Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane on March 17 last year.
Stuart Pearce, Muamba’s former manager in the England Under 21s team, said: “There is no doubt how valuable these pieces of equipment can be, and if they save just one life then the investment is worth it.
“The investment of £800,000 from the FA and BHF makes it much easier for clubs to get their hands on a piece of kit that ordinarily would be too expensive for them.
“I think we all remember the moment Fabrice collapsed on the pitch at White Hart Lane and how that stunned the football world into thinking about these issues.”
The scheme will give players, staff and fans at the eligible clubs access to the equipment along with training for hands-only cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.
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