A JUNIOR football club has set up an online fundraising page for a defibrillator after its general manager’s life was saved by one.

Bolton Woods Juniors are looking to raise £1,000 through an online donation page and fundraising of their own to pay for the equipment.

The club, based in Powell Road, Shipley, which runs 15 teams for children aged between two and 18 for more than 350 girls and boys, will be looking to raise £300 towards the equipment itself and £700 through online donations.

Defibrillators give a high-energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest.

General manager Tony Miller, 77, who set up the club in 1988, knows first-hand about the need for the equipment.

He said: “I had a heart attack five years ago and a defibrillator saved my life.

“We have in our plans to do something positive. Heart problems are happening all of the time on the football field.

“This is so close to me and it is happening more often.

“If parents are putting their children in our trust to us at the club, we need to have the best possible medical care here.

“A lot of parents won’t have access to anything like this. It is a life-saving piece of equipment.

“It is a necessity for us to get a defibrillator at the club. It will do the job and is an important piece of kit.

“We will be grateful to any sort of donation. I understand times are hard for people, so any donations are gratefully received. We don’t just want to ask for donations from people, we will be doing our own fundraising alongside it.”

Bolton Woods’ appeal follows a number of cases of players having heart attacks on the football field, at both grassroots and professional level.

A 10-year-old boy’s life was saved by a referee after he went into cardiac arrest during a junior football match.

Dan Fagg collapsed on the pitch at Adwick, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, last month.

But quick-thinking referee Chris Crowe performed CPR on the boy as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Meanwhile, former Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba’s life was saved after he collapsed on the pitch in March 2012.

The midfielder was effectively dead for more than an hour when he collapsed following a cardiac arrest during his side’s FA Cup match at Tottenham Hotspur.

Go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bolton-woods-juniors to make a donation to the appeal.