Opinion
The Christian Eriksen incident in Denmark’s Euro 2021 clash with Finland in Copenhagen was a timely reminder of the need for defibrillators and safety measures at all sporting venues across the country.
Eriksen was saved thanks to the quick thinking of teammates and medical staff, who had all the resources necessary to keep him alive.
The sad reality though is community sporting venues across the country aren’t always equipped with defibrillators and crucially don’t often have people trained to use them.
Inconceivably there are also situations where emergency vehicles don’t have clear access to sporting fields due to people not following simple rules.
It is estimated that 33,000 people annually across Australia have cardiac arrest, with a number happening in sporting environments.
According to the St John’s website, in Australia, the price of an automatic defibrillator machine can start from as little as $1999. It is a small price to pay to save someone’s life.
In 2017, Football Australia implemented a policy where all A-League, W-League and National Youth League teams had one readily available.
A number of state government bodies offer grants to sporting clubs to assist them in buying a defibrillator. For example in NSW, there is the Local Sport Defibrillator Grant Program, which started in 2017. It allocated $4 million over four years to assist sporting clubs across NSW in the purchase and maintenance of automated external defibrillators.
(Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
Tragically, cardiac arrest doesn’t just impact the older population. There have been a number of incidents where seemingly healthy young people have also been effected.
In 2014, 15-year-old Marc Arcuri was struck down by sudden cardiac illness while playing football for Austral FC.
The tragedy left his family and the local football community dealing with the horror of a young life taken in an innocent environment like a football field.
Young Marc’s death would not be in vain, with a six-a-side football tournament being organised in western Sydney in his name, to raise funds for defibrillators.
It soon became known as the Marc Arcuri Cup and since 2014, more than $200,000 has been raised and more than 100 defibrillators have been purchased and donated to community sporting clubs across NSW and Victoria. One defibrillator saved the life of 64-year-old Ian ‘Gunner’ Rae, revived after suffering a heart attack while playing for West Pymble FC in April 2018.
Last year at the Afghan Cup in Auburn, a young footballer tragically passed after suffering a cardiac arrest on the field. The ambulance had trouble getting through to the field due to cars being parked in the emergency entrance and also the fact the defibrillator at the ground was not accessible.
The tragedy was a reminder of the need for sporting clubs to be vigilant about health and safety.
Christian Eriksen’s life was saved on the football field in Copenhagen on Saturday. A number of others can be as well going forward if sporting clubs do the right thing.
Buy a defibrillator, train people to use them, be present at a venue each weekend, and have strict protocols in place to ensure emergency vehicles have access to sporting fields.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Manchester City have chalked up another big win in their hunt for an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title, with Phil Foden continuing his…
Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
Despite the short nature of his tenure as a professional manager, Arne Slot has established himself as arguably the most impressive manager outside of…
Everton won the Merseyside derby 2-0, with Toffees supporters taunting Liverpool after the game at their home ground Goodison Park.
Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have blasted a hole in Liverpool's Premier League title challenge as Everton powered their way to a priceless derby…
The real concern comes down to football's growing trend of big corporations taking up slices of the world game at the expense of smaller teams.
