Footballer's life saved by defibrillator

A player with Hertford Town football club was treated with a defibrillator after suffering a medical emergency during a match against AFC Dunstable on Saturday.

The incident happened in the second half of the match and the game was abandoned.

Writing on Twitter, the club said: "Hugely distressing scenes today that you never want to witness on a football pitch or anywhere, but fortunately some good news. Our player is stable and talking in hospital and his family are on the way.

"Huge thanks and respect to AFC Dunstable, their physio Nikini, our physio Paige and Alasann who performed CPR on the pitch. The Air Ambulance crew said that those guys and the fact our defibrillator was yards away on our bench have saved a life today.

"And if it really needs saying, if you don’t have a defibrillator at your club, get one. Cost is irrelevant when they truly can and do save lives, both on and off the pitch."

Last year The Premier League announced it would fund the provision of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) at thousands of grassroots football clubs and facilities, aimed at helping save the life of someone experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest.