Having a defib at any venue with more than X pitches would be a good compromise.
Although the little b*st*rds of Manchester would vandalise the **** out of them.
So it needs to be locked up, who holds the key?
And there in lies the problem, at local/grass roots football that is predominantly played on a local park, it just wouldn't be feasible.
Certainly in my area the majority of games are on local parks, with a couple played at sports centres/schools etc.
Even if the FA provided one for every place with more than 3 pitches, who is going to take responsibility for the devices?
I can't see many councils wanting to take ownership of several £900+ devices that would need to be locked away and kept safe 99% of the time.
They'd also find a way of passing this onto the clubs by increasing pitch fees etc.
Sports centers you would expect to already have one somewhere on site anyway. But I'm not sure whether schools have to have them, and if they did whether they'd be willing to let dog and duck utd get theit hands on them on a Sunday morning.
It's a great idea and I'd be all for it, but I think there's just too many problems to get it to work properly.
Imagine the out cry the local FA/council would get if they only funded devices for locations with 3 or more pitches, and someone dies at a place that didn't meet the requirements to get one.
Let's also not for get that not all leagues will stipulate that grounds must have secure changing rooms.
One place local to me is a council pitch, but you have to use the changing room in the village hall across the road. Who would take charge in an instance like this?
