Northern NSW Football has announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Heartbeat of Football.
The purpose of the partnership is to reduce the incidence of unnecessary deaths while playing football through raising heart health awareness across NNSWF communities and stakeholders, to help ensure a safe environment for participants.
Media personality and football enthusiast Andy Paschalidis established Heartbeat of Football in early 2016 as a direct result of cardiac arrest events on the football pitch.
Heartbeat of Football is a not-for-profit organisation, promoting healthy hearts in sport via:
- Awareness and education (player, participant and community programs)
- Prevention (minimisation of health risks through simple screening checks)
- Action (‘Rescue-ready’ defibrillators at all sporting fields around the country)
NNSWF CEO David Eland said via NNSWF it was important to increase community education around CPR and the use of automated external defibrillators.
“We look forward to working together with Heartbeat of Football on some exciting initiatives and campaigns,” Eland said in a statement.
“We want to encourage adult community members to conduct heart health checks and encourage football clubs to have operational defibrillators available and accessible for use during football activities.
“We have tens of thousands of participants that take to the field every week. So it is essential that our football community understands the issue and can take preventative actions to protect themselves and their families.
“What Andy and Heartbeat of football have achieved has been fantastic. We are proud of this partnership and I look forward to seeing how it can help our football community over the next few years.”
Paschalidis, Heartbeat of Football founder and CEO, said via NNSWF:
“This partnership with NNSWF is important as it further supports our objective of reaching more people and establishing a national footprint. A big thanks to David and the NNSWF team for their commitment to HOF and to their whole football community – truly lifesaving!”
“The impact of the floods on football and the wider community is devastating and our donation of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to those clubs most affected by these, is our way of giving back to the football family. The AED donation was made possible by the generosity of Tim Cahill, HOF Global Ambassador, who wanted to do something to support football across the region – he said it was a “no-brainer” and hoped it made a difference to those clubs and communities impacted by the floods”
Paschalidis was at Lismore on Friday, along with Chris Cahill (Tim’s brother), to present defibrillators to five clubs from the Football Far North Coast region to help launch the partnership.
The clubs included Lismore Thistles SC, Lismore Workers FC, South Lismore FC, Uki Pythons and Woodburn Wolves FC.
NNSWF also funded one of the defibrillators to help ensure all defibrillators lost during the devastating floods earlier this year were replaced as part of its Flood Recovery initiative.
Socceroos legend Tim Cahill also sent a video message of support to the clubs.
