Local league donates to heart campaign

Tonbridge Angels chairman Steve Churcher has thanked the West Kent Sunday League for making a £1000 donation to the Ryman Premier club's Football Fight Back campaign.

Launched this summer following the death of trialist Junior Dian after the club teamed up with the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (C-R-Y), the campaign aims to see more than 600 players across Kent aged between 14 and 35 undergo heart screening at a subsidised rate of £35 per player at participating clubs from January 2016.

The WKSFL made their donation after staging their 35th charity cup final at the Longmead Stadium earlier this month and Churcher was delighted to add the funds to the proceeds of their own efforts and those of other clubs at a series of fundraising events since the tragedy.

The Angels chairman said: "This very generous gift from the West Kent Sunday League means that together with the money raised on the same day from the Pram Race and Family Fun Day, the Football Fightback fund now exceeds £20,000.

"When we launched the appeal we couldn't have imagined we would have reached this figure so quickly. Well done and thanks to everyone involved."

Defender Dian collapsed on the pitch while playing for Angels against Whyteleafe in a pre-season friendly at Church Road on Tuesday 7 July. Despite being rushed to hospital after being treated at the scene by the medical teams of both clubs, the 23-year-old died hours later at St George's Hospital in south west London.

* Awareness around the dangers of sudden cardiac arrests in football was heightened in March 2012 when former England Under-21 star Fabrice Muamba made a remarkable recovery after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing for Bolton Wanderers against Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup tie at White Hart Lane.

Only around 1 in 10 people normally survive a witnessed, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK and the FA teamed up with the British Heart Foundation a year later to launch a £1.2m Defibrillator Fund to subsidise the costs of life-saving treatment at more than 900 Non-League clubs playing at Steps 1-6.

Instead of paying around £1000 for a defibrillator, the initiative saw clubs pay just over £300, knocking two thirds off the cost.

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Where next?

Business as usual as caretakers confirmed Cheshunt chairman Dean Williamson is backing new manager Paul Wickenden, his assistant Andy Crawford and goalkeeping coach Peter Russell to take the Ryman North club forward after handing full control to the trio on Monday.
Sunday's Ryman Premier action review Kingstonian made it five Ryman League Premier Division and cup games unbeaten on Sunday with a 2-1 Kingsmeadow victory over Canvey Island, writes Pitchero's Steve Whitney.

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