Defibrillators at every sports ground in Broxtowe after boy died after collapsing on the football pitch

Samuel Awkasi had just scored the first goal in the game after suddenly collapsing on the grass pitch, near a tree.
-Credit: (Image: Akwasi family)


Every sports ground in Broxtowe is now expected to have a defibrillator installed after a 13-year-old boy collapsed and died during a football match. Samuel Akwasi suffered heart failure while playing at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham in 2022, despite having had no previous heart problems.

Although first aiders did use a defibrillator in their attempts to help him, a coroner later wrote to all Nottinghamshire councils recommending the equipment is made much more widely available in parks and sports grounds. Currently, only seven of the fifteen Broxtowe areas where football and cricket clubs play are equipped with them.

Broxtowe Borough Council ’s cabinet is likely to approve plans to install 14 defibrillators and trauma bleed kits being at sports grounds in the borough at a meeting next week (October 1). The equipment will cost a total of £33,400, and be available at all the locations by March 2026.

However, the programme stops short of installing defibrillators at every park and open space in Broxtowe, which would have cost just more than £70,000. Not all sites have electricity supply or the necessary infrastructure, meaning not all parks can currently host them without more work.

Another option to simply improve signs for existing defibrillators has been ruled out by the council. A report says the life-saving machinery will be installed in partnership with sports clubs, who would look after them.

Elizabeth Didcock, the assistant coroner, also recommended first aiders know were the equipment is located whenever a sports event takes place.

As part of an inquest into Samuel’s death she called for all of them to be made publicly available, as some can only be accessed by sports clubs. If defibrillators are registered with the NHS or British Heart Foundation, they are added to the Circuit database, which will allow someone to access it in an emergency by calling 999.

Samuel was playing in a match for FC Cavaliers on May ,7 2022 when his heart stopped. He scored during the game, but collapsed 25 minutes after it began, and defibrillators were brought from the nearby café and sports centre.

He was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre but was pronounced dead shortly after. At his inquest in March 2023 the assistant coroner found he had been “fit and well”, with no infections or diseases which had contributed to his death.