CARAMUT reserves footballer, Darren Frith, is alive today thanks to the quick actions of several people after he suffered a heart attack and was left unconscious on the field at Caramut Recreation Reserve on June 25.

The 53-year-old was playing in a Mininera and District Football League reserves game against the Ararat Eagles, but with roughly a minute remaining in the first quarter, he went up for a marking contest only to get hit in the chest with an opponent’s elbow by accident, which caused him to fall back to the ground.

He regained his stance and was soon back on the ground on his knees with many players and officials around him.

Caramut club umpire, Andrew Calvert, and Ararat club umpire, Marcus Matthews, were the first on the scene with Calvert racing to grab the club’s defibrillator from the club room and Swans president, Andrew Hassett, attached the device to Frith’s chest.

A single shock was administered to Frith, as per the advice from the machine, but Hassett had to perform CPR after Frith “turned a funny colour”.

“I had never used one of these machines before, but we were able to get it going very quickly and administered it to Darren very quickly which did the trick,” Hassett said.

“Once he turned the funny colour, I was straight into CPR with about 30 compressions and he returned to a better colour and the machine said that he didn’t need any further zaps,” Hassett said.

Frith was told he “died on the ground for about 20 seconds” before the quick action of Hassett, Calvert and Matthews brought the lifelong footballer back to life.

“I have played football since I was six years old and I love my footy as I now get to play a game with my boys, but after copping the blow, I was dropped to my knees and looking to see if the opposition had gone on to kick a goal or not,” Frith said.

“I started to feel uncomfortable in myself and the next thing I remember is Andrew (Hassett)  leaning over me.

“I am so thankful for everyone’s quick work in getting to me and helping me recover and it is something I will never forget and will be forever grateful for,” Frith said.

Alongside nurse, Toni Malloy, the quartet were able to stabilise Frith before the air ambulance arrived with a MICA paramedic, along with another two ambulances and the police, to whisk him off to Barwon Health University Hospital in Geelong, where he underwent surgery to insert an internal defibrillator.

An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is a device that detects any life-threatening, rapid heartbeat.

This abnormal heartbeat is called an arrhythmia and if it occurs, the ICD quickly sends an electrical shock to the heart that changes the rhythm back to normal.

Having recovered from his surgery, Frith was back at the ground last Saturday, although only as a spectator as his football career ended as a result of the medical incident.

The doctors told Frith that he is not lift his arm above his head for six weeks after which time they will discuss his going back to work or not.

Hassett is eternally grateful for the defibrillator at the club being on hand, and the club acted quickly to ensure that even more members will be able to use the defibrillator in future.

“The club is going to instigate mandatory training in the use of the defibrillator for our members so that, God forbid this ever happens again, we are all ready with the correct knowledge on the machines use,” Hassett said.

“Every sporting club needs to have one of these machines readily available for use just in case, as you never know what can happen,” Hassett said.

The game was abandoned immediately, with the points from the game shared, and discussions were held between the senior officials of both Caramut and Ararat as to whether the senior game should game progress under the circumstances, with the contest going ahead.