Football rivals up for cardiac campaign

Bristol Rovers defender Tom Lockyer and Swindon Town manager Ian Holloway have put club rivalries aside to encourage football fans to learn CPR.

Both men have been effected by cardiac conditions, Holloway's father died of a heart problem and Lockyer collapsed twice on the pitch while playing for Luton Town in 2023, the second time with a cardiac arrest.

"Its been a big part of my life since what happened to me and thankfully I was saved," said Lockyer, promoting the British Heart Foundation's Every Minute Matters campaign.

"It holds a special, powerful, meaning to me that I am able to stand here and push this message and save lives because this campaign will save lives for sure."

The campaign works with football clubs to improve CPR education amongst football fans and the pair's meeting comes just a few days before Bristol Rovers and Swindon Town face each other in League Two.

"I had paramedics 50 metres from where I collapsed but sadly for so many that's not the case and each year 40,000 people in the UK will have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest," said Lockyer.

"Because 80% of cardiac arrests happen at home, while you're at home with your loved ones this Christmas, take some time to sit down and discuss whether you would know how to handle a cardiac arrest," he added.

"It's 15 minutes of your time and you can do it together as a family."

Ian Holloway lost his father to heart failure just a month before his first child was born.

He said he felt "robbed" by his death and sad that his children and grandchildren never got to meet him.

Holloway is now determined to encourage people to learn how to perform CPR.

"It's very important to find out about things because you'll give yourself a chance to get better," he said.

"Go online and look it up and you can learn it [CPR} in 15 minutes," he added.

"What else can you do that could save someone's life in 15 minutes?

"It's not just your gran or your grandad. It could be your baby, your younger brother or sister, it could be anybody and you will change so many lives if you can just keep there heart going until the medical people get there."

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