Vandals smash football club’s defibrillator hours after Christian Eriksen collapse

‘Those things save people’s lives and someone has come and trashed it,’ says chairman of Buxted FC

Two people were caught on CCTV vandalising a football club's defibrillator kit just hours after Christian Eriksen collapsed at the Euro 2020 tournament.

Buxted FC in East Sussex described the incident in the early hours of Sunday morning as "absolutely disgusting" as it appealed for help identifying the suspects.

Club chairman Richard Turner told the PA news agency: "Those things save people's lives and someone has come and trashed it.

"The whole world saw what happened to Christian Eriksen on Saturday so why would anyone think that's OK?

"Everyone at the club is a volunteer, we work hard for what we've got, but now we'll have to raise funds to replace it. It's just heartbreaking."

It comes after Denmark's team doctor revealed a defibrillator was used to restart Christian Eriksen's heart when he suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed during the match against Finland on Saturday afternoon.

Martin Boesen told a press conference: “How close were we to losing him? I don’t know, but we got him back after one defib, so that’s quite fast.”

Buxted FC said their defibrillator was vandalised at 12.50am on Sunday.

The club posted CCTV footage of the incident on Twitter and added: "It was caught on CCTV so if anyone has any information about who these two people are then please report it to Sussex Police."

It has been viewed more than 500,000 times since it was posted on Sunday evening and appears to show a young man and woman wrecking the equipment worth around £2,000.

Actor Martin Kemp commented: "I rarely get upset, angry or surprised by people's behaviour but this is the pits. I hope they will be disgusted with themselves when they get caught."

Mr Turner said Buxted FC had been celebrating winning the mid-Sussex division one league trophy before the incident.

"Now I think we're more upset than angry after what's happened," he said.

He added that the community had been "brilliant" in its support and many people had offered to help install a new defibrillator.

"Social media has been brilliant, it's amazing what people can do when people come together," he said.

Additional reporting by Press Association