Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Hero hailed for saving football fan’s life after he collapsed at Peterhead match

Balmoor Stadium, Peterhead
Balmoor Stadium, Peterhead

A physiotherapist was hailed a hero last night after he saved a football fan’s life at a game.

Peterhead fan Val Pearson had gone to cheer on his side against Dunfermline Athletic on Saturday, but collapsed in the car park at about 2pm.

Nat Porter, Peterhead Football Club’s general manager, saw Mr Pearson collapse and raced to get the defibrillator from inside Balmoor Terrace – bumping into Dunfermline’s physiotherapist Kenny Murray, who “burst into action”.

By the time the pair got back to Mr Pearson, he was falling in and out of consciousness and they knew they had to act fast.

Mr Porter said: “He ran back with me, grabbed the defib off me and burst into action.

“We feared the worst, but he was alive when he went into the ambulance and was ‘blue lamped’ all the way into Aberdeen. In the evening we heard he was sitting up in his bed and breathing on his own.

“If it had happened 50 yards away, we might not have had time to get the defib to him. We now just hope he makes a full recovery to see the Blue Toon in action for the rest of the season – we would be delighted to welcome him back.

“The real hero – the great hero through the whole thing – was the Dunfermline physio.”

Mr Murray, who worked at Celtic Football Club before moving to Dunfermline, said he was running on “auto-pilot” when he got to the scene.

The physio, who qualified seven years ago, added: “I’ve never had any real-life scenarios that could be classed as life-threatening in my career, all of the training is done as realistically as possible but I’ve never had to deal with something to this degree before.

“You just go onto auto-pilot and everything comes to you and you do it. There’s no grey areas. You’re in a situation where people could be dying and that if you don’t perform these techniques that you’re taught, then their life is in your hands.”

He was also praised by his employers, who described him as a “credit” to both the club and himself.

“Kenny acted quickly and calmly to save a Peterhead fan’s life, and we are delighted to hear that the supporter is now in a stable condition in hospital,” a spokesman said.

“Kenny is a credit to himself, and to our club.”

The Football Partnership, which has donated defibrillators to football clubs throughout the country, has meanwhile stressed the importance of the devices at all grounds.

A spokesman said that it had now provided grant funding to clubs in the Highland League, Lowland League, East League and South League to purchase machines.

“If it’s not on-hand, then it’s not there to save someone’s life,” he said.

“It’s something we care about and it’s why we’ve supported these league bodies over the last three years.”