Francis Duku: #SaferTogether gives us all hope

Now, in my role at The Sports Circle, I still look forward to the new season — but I have a different dread.

Between now and May, multiple GoFundMe campaigns will appear on my timeline, as I’m sure they will yours.

Better answers

Most will receive donations and best wishes, but we surely need to have a better answer than crowdfunding to support players when they are in need.

With a bit of preparation, this season can be one of change, starting with something we can all be part of — #Safer-Together.

At the heart of #SaferTogether is player welfare and our answer to a question Non-League football hasn’t figured out yet: why does it still not have a cardiac screening programme.

Football was reminded just weeks ago why this matters when Christian Eriksen collapsed for the second time and only survived because a device implanted after his first cardiac arrest did exactly what it was designed to do.

Most Non-League players will never have that safety net.

With at least 12 apparently fit and healthy young people dying every week in the UK from an undiagnosed cardiac condition — where playing sport can be a trigger — 80% of whom had no prior symptoms, one in 300 unknowingly living with such a condition, and sudden cardiac arrest being the leading cause of death in exercising athletes, there is a clear problem that every football club should address.

SAFETY NET: The plight of Christian Eriksen has raised questions over why a cardiac screening programme doesn’t exist in Non-League football
PICTURE: Alamy

Screening

A screening strategy applied in Italy since 1982 has led to an 89 per cent reduction in sudden cardiac death amongst athletes.

The science is not in doubt. The evidence for prevention has existed for over 40 years. Non-League football still has no screening programme.

#SaferTogether changes that.

Here’s what makes this different from every other welfare initiative you’ve heard about: membership costs nothing apart from a desire to improve your own health.

We call it #TrainWithAPurpose. Players and clubs can join The Sports Circle for free.

From that point, every training session and every match generates wins — credits earned through the activity you’re already doing — which can be used to provide a pathway of support for cardiac screening, MRI scans and more, with the potential to make that support completely free.

Clubs can go further. Through our Vitality partnership, the entire club community can access discounted gym memberships, kit, equipment and more — making it easier to #TrainWithAPurpose.

By using Pay by PAIR — The Sports Circle’s own payment gateway — club transaction costs are capped at a maximum of 1% and more support is given to power #SaferTogether.

Individual effort and club infrastructure work together to make this a sustainable change.

Non-League football doesn’t have to wait for the professional game to lead on this. It doesn’t have to cost anyone a penny to start. It just has to start.

Join us #InTheCircle this season. Not after the GoFundMe. Before it. Pre-season is back. This time, let’s all prepare.

thesportscircle.co.uk