The Scottish Football Partnership Trust (SFPT) has once again teamed up with The Kilpatrick Fraser Charitable Trust (KFCT) to put together a new funding strand for 2022 which will see another 20 community football clubs/organisations provided with a lifesaving defibrillator. Over the last few years, 48 devices have already been awarded to clubs/organisations and this new funding will see that total rise to 68.
In 2015, Parliament passed the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 giving more rights to community bodies to take over land and buildings in public ownership through asset transfer. Since then, many grassroots community football clubs and organisations across all parts of Scotland have benefitted from these new rights and have been able to take over football pitches and pavilions via Community Asset Transfer. Essentially these football clubs have evolved into becoming community service and facility providers and in recognition of this, the SFPT and the KFCT were keen to assist safeguard the health and wellbeing of players, coaches, parents, grandparents and other members of the wider community who attend these facilities on a weekly basis.
Greenock Morton Community Trust recently received a defibrillator to help safeguard all the various users of Cappielow Park. Chief Executive Brian McLaughlin thanked both The Scottish Football Partnership Trust and the Kilpatrick Fraser Charitable Trust and added “This defibrillator will help safeguard the community of Inverclyde and will help our community projects which includes mental and physical health initiatives. The equipment will also be available for the general public and non-members should the need ever arise. At the end of each season, we have over 2,000 local children who are able to access the pitch for fun football and events and it’s reassuring to know that they will all benefit from having this potentially life-saving device on site.”
British Heart Foundation – Why defibrillators for your community are important
“Communities can play a big part in creating a nation of life savers. Having a defibrillator in your community and training people in CPR means that more people will know what to do when someone has a cardiac arrest.”
Does my community need a defibrillator?
“Yes, your community needs a defibrillator. For every minute someone is in cardiac arrest without CPR and access to a defibrillator, their chance of survival drops by up to 10%.
Having access to a defibrillator in an emergency can be lifesaving, especially in rural areas where ambulance response times may be longer.”
What are the benefits of having a defibrillator in my community?
“Less than 1 in 10 people in the UK survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. This has been partly attributed to two factors that communities can change:
- There aren’t enough people prepared to perform CPR when someone has a cardiac arrest
- There aren’t enough defibrillators
By having a defibrillator in your community and by training people in CPR, you can play an important part in saving more lives.”
*Since 2012, The Scottish Football Partnership and Trust has invested over £200,000 in upskilling around 2,250 coach volunteers in Sports First Aid in conjunction with the Hampden Sports Clinic.