Ensure your Club is Rescue Ready in 2026
Football NSW, together with Heartbeat of Football and Heart of the Nation, are encouraging Clubs to ensure they are Rescue Ready for the 2026 community winter football season.
The Rescue Ready initiative encourages clubs and the wider football community to make Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) more widely available and accessible at local sporting facilities and acts as a reminder for Clubs to check their AED battery and pads to ensure their AEDs are fully operational and rescue ready.
AEDs have saved the lives of players, officials and spectators in football across Australia. When a cardiac arrest occurs, if CPR commences and a defibrillator is used within the first 3-5 minutes, a person will have a greater chance of survival. An AED is a life-saving device which should be installed, properly maintained and accessible at all times.
Check out our Rescue Ready Guide for Clubs
Football NSW acknowledges the work of Heartbeat of Football and Heart of the Nation in helping raise awareness of heart health issues and supporting clubs and associations with the acquisition of AEDs, and promoting CPR awareness training.
Heartbeat of Football
Heartbeat of Football (HOF), a not-for-profit organisation, was established in early 2016 by media personality and football enthusiast Andy Paschalidis as a direct result of cardiac arrest events on the football field.
Heartbeat of Football promotes healthy hearts in sport via:
- Awareness: player, participant, and community education programs.
- Prevention: minimisation of health risks through simple screening checks.
- Action: ‘rescue-ready’ defibrillators at all sporting fields around the country, starting in NSW.
Visit the Heartbeat of Football website | Join the Make It Red campaign
Heart of the Nation
Heart of the Nation is the Heart Foundation’s flagship program working to improve cardiac arrest survival rates through advocacy and community CPR and AED awareness training and resources.
Visit the Heart of the Nation website | CPR and AED awareness sessions | Call, Push, Shock club poster
Find more information and resources visit the Football NSW First Aid and Defibrillator webpage
