Players in the English Football League (EFL) promotion play-offs will be wearing “hearts on their sleeves” in a bid to save lives.
Designed to emulate the British Heart Foundation (BHF) logo, the co-branded icon will also feature the EFL and its chief sponsor Sky Bet’s logos, alongside the text: “Every m1nute matters”.
The campaign will primarily draw attention to the lifesaving power of CPR and will aim to inspire more football fans to learn the invaluable skill, with the BHF within touching distance of its target of getting 360,000 supporters to start learning throughout the season.
“With millions of football fans watching the Sky Bet EFL Play-Offs next month, it’s incredible that the Every M1nute Matters badge will adorn team kits – all in the pursuit of encouraging more people to learn lifesaving CPR,” said Dr Charmaine Griffiths, CEO of the BHF.
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“Hundreds of thousands of people have already started learning CPR since the launch of the campaign, but we urgently need more to know this vital skill. It takes just 15 minutes to learn CPR with RevivR, and it could make the difference between life and death in the event of witnessing a cardiac arrest.”
Backed by Luton Town defender and cardiac arrest survivor Tom Lockyer, the awareness drive will also include a £3 million donation from Sky Bet, with the betting firm additionally pledging to donate £10,000 to the charity for every goal scored during the play-offs.
“The Sky Bet EFL Play-Offs have provided some of the most dramatic and compelling moments in football,” Lockyer.
“For me personally, the Play-Offs are a massive part of my own story, and it’s fitting that I’ll be back at Wembley later in May to raise awareness of the vital importance of CPR.”
RevivR is the BHF’s free, interactive, online CPR training course. Each year over 30,000 people have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK and less than 1 in 10 survive.
Lockyer added: “It will be emotional for me watching the players competing in the Play-Offs quite literally wearing hearts on their sleeves. It’s hard to get my head around just how the EFL community – fans, players and the clubs – have come together and united behind the Sky Bet Every Minute Matters campaign. It’s surreal what we’ve collectively achieved in such a short space of time, but I’m calling for one final effort from the fans because every extra person we inspire to learn CPR could one day go on to save a life.”
