A crucial partnership
The last nine months have been truly enthralling across the English Football League (EFL), with another memorable season set to draw to a close with the Sky Bet Championship Playoff final at Wembley this Sunday. Will it be Leeds United or Southampton that wins ‘the richest game in football’ and promotion to the Premier League? Given its long-standing heritage and presence in Yorkshire, it’ll come as no surprise as to which team all those at Sky Betting and Gaming will be cheering on.
However, it’s not just Leeds United that is getting the brand’s full support – Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have been making a real impact together since the launch of their ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign earlier this month.
Over the next 12 months, the landmark partnership will see Sky Bet provide up to £3 million in funding to the vital work of the BHF, with £10,000 donated for every goal during this month’s Sky Bet Play-Offs. After a riveting set of games in both League 1 and 2 playoffs, with Oxford United and Crawley Town promoted respectively, this total currently sits at £370,000 going into this weekend. What’s more, the ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign also aims to recruit 270,000 people to learn CPR through the BHF’s RevivR training course, raising the chances of someone being able to save someone’s life when the unthinkable happens.
These incredible efforts contribute to Flutter’s global sustainability strategy, the Positive Impact Plan, which has four key pillars: helping our customers Play Well, empowering our colleagues to Work Better, working with our communities to Do More, and reducing our environmental impact with our Go Zero plan.
As a result, the partnership is a source of great pride for not just those within Sky Betting and Gaming, but all Flutter colleagues working within its UK and Irish division. This is particularly true for Steve Birch, the Chief Commercial Officer at Sky Betting and Gaming who has worked with the brand since it first began its sponsorship of the EFL back in 2013. According to Steve, it’s been “amazing to take our involvement even further and work with the British Heart Foundation to create the ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign.”
A growing crisis
Many football fans in the UK will have been made acutely aware of the ever-present danger coronary heart disease and cardiac arrest pose to sportsmen and women in recent years. Indeed, FIFA reported in April that cardiac arrest has claimed one footballer’s life every month for the past ten years.
In the UK alone, there are over 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year, equating to at least five every 90 minutes, and more than 80 per day – and each minute without CPR reduces the chance of survival by up to 10 per cent. Sadly, less than 1 in 10 survive due to those around them lacking the skills and/or confidence to administer CPR.
There is clearly a need to equip the general population with the ability to help those around them when they need it most and save lives. Hence why the BHF have created their RevivR online training course which allows trainees to learn CPR in 15 minutes for free. As Steve puts it, “it’s extraordinary to think that in just 15 minutes we can learn such a valuable skill”.
As for Graeme Souness, the legendary Liverpool FC player and manager who was diagnosed with coronary heart disease in his early 30s and has suffered from a heart attack, the importance of teaching people CPR is paramount. “Together we can equip thousands more fans with the knowledge and confidence to perform these live saving skills,” he emphasises, “in the crucial moments following a cardiac arrest every minute really does matter.”
Inspiring change
With any activation campaign – particularly those with ambitious goals such as this – drafting in some heavy hitting ambassadors is a great way to amplify the message. For Every Minute Matters, Sky Bet and the BHF have teamed up with an iconic group of sports people including Souness, David Ginola, Glenn Hoddle, Tom Lockyer, Megan Tinsley and Fabrice Muamba. Several of whom have CPR to thank for saving their lives.
“Without the prompt actions of medical staff who gave me CPR and defibrillation, I simply wouldn’t be here today – and I’m forever grateful for that,” says Lockyer, who collapsed during last year’s Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final and survived a cardiac arrest in December 2023.
These inspiring individuals form part of the ‘Re-Starting 11’ team, who will be sharing their own stories and experiences with cardiac arrest and heart health to help Brits gain the skills to tackle the ultimate medical emergency. This team also includes football fans that have either survived cardiac arrest or saved someone’s life.
The ‘Re-Starting 11’ has already made a significant impact in spreading the word, with Tom Lockyer joining The Overlap to learn CPR and Fabrice Muamba performing a live CPR demo at Wembley ahead of the League One play-off final.
Their stories alongside with the stated mission of Every Minute Matters have clearly resonated with people across the UK. Since the launch of the campaign, more than 23,000 individuals have begun CPR training – almost 10 per cent of its goal within the first month! With over 20 million UK adults never learning CPR, there is still a long way to go after a strong start, but for Steve, the real-life stories from the ‘Re-Starting 11’ have been “truly powerful” and have made all the team at Sky Betting and Gaming excited about the rest of the campaign.
“We’re confident the £3 million will make a big difference for the BHF and that we can achieve the goal of seeing 270,000 people learn lifesaving CPR through the RevivR training course,” he says.
