Northern Premier League and official charity offering free heart tests

The BetVictor Northern Premier League is teaming up with the competition’s official charity to encourage fans, players and officials to take a free heart test.
Thanks to its partnership with Cardiac Risk in the Young (C-R-Y) and support for The Daniel Wilkinson Foundation, free heart tests being offered at the North West Cardiac Centre in Preston on March 13 and 14 for anyone aged 14 to 35.
According to a statement released by the NPL on Monday, the latest screenings are being funded in the memory of Andrew Parr.
The NPL started working with CRY following the death of Shaw Lane defender Daniel Wilkinson in September 2016 after he collapsed during a Integro League Cup clash at Brighouse Town and passed away in hospital hours later with an undetected heart condition at the age of 24.

A former Hull City youth team star, who also turned out for North Ferriby United, Scarborough Athletic, Harrogate Town, Goole Town and Rushall Olympic, he died despite the best efforts of medics from both clubs and the emergency services to treat him using Town’s own stadium defibrillator and administering CPR.
The Daniel Wilkinson Foundation was set up in his name by his family and friends soon afterwards to stop others dying needlessly and has since raised thousands to help fund heart tests and the purchase of defibrillators for the NPL’s clubs.
The late Shaw Lane defender was later found to have suffered from the same disease that caused former Bolton star Fabrice Muamba to retire from football in 2012 after collapsing during an FA Cup tie at Spurs.
That incident prompted the Football Association to team up with the British Heart Foundation to subsidise the cost of defibrillators for more than 900 clubs at Steps 1 to 5 following lobbying from a number of competitions including the NPL.
Before the start of the NPL’s historic 50th 2017-18 anniversary season, the FA announced that the initiative was being relaunched following its previous success when more than half the clubs in the competition alone took advantage of the subsidy to purchase the life-saving equipment and receive training.
Find out more about The Daniel Wilkinson Foundation via the charity’s social media channels and website thedanielwilkinsonfoundation.org.
Make sure you get your copy of The Non-League Paper on Sunday for the latest news from across Non-League over the last seven days, together with exclusive match reports and pictures from all of Saturday’s upcoming action in the BetVictor Northern Premier League.
Main image courtesy of betvictornorthernpremier.co.uk