Last Saturday week, MICA paramedic Andrew White revealed that $150,000 in private sponsorship had been pledged for 63 heart defibrillators to stop preventable deaths at football clubs in Victoria.

The campaign launch on May 28 of 'Defib your club, for life' coincided with a memorial lunch for Rupertswood footballer Stephen Buckman, 19, who died after collapsing at training 12months ago.

That tragedy haunted Mr White, who also played for Rupertswood and tried to save Buckman that night.

Mr White used his paramedic training but, without a defibrillator to shock Buckman's heart back into action, he was unable to revive him.

Since then Mr White has lobbied government and corporate sponsors to raise $1.5million for 750 public-access defibrillators - one for every football club in Victoria. Since the death of Buckman, Gisborne football coach Steve Simpson, 53, and Silvan footballer Vincent Bonanno, 22, collapsed and died at their clubs. Both of their clubs have backed Mr White's campaign.

At the launch, Mr White also unveiled a campaign website.

The state government has not indicated if it will provide funding for the defibrillators. A spokeswoman for Health Minister David Davis did not respond to the Weekly's inquiries.

The defibrillators give users verbal instructions to help them revive people who suffer sudden heart attacks. As a paramedic, Mr White has seen many cases where a defibrillator would have made a difference. He said having defibrillators at clubs could save about 30 lives a year.

"With sudden cardiac arrest, ideally, defibrillation should occur within five minutes. You're not going to be able to regularly have an ambulance in that time.

"The only way of possibly saving someone would be the community having access to defibrillation."

This month, paramedics revived a 34-year-old umpire on site in Werribee using a defibrillator.

"Early defibrillation appears to have been the key to his survival," Mr White said.

He was disappointed that the campaign missed out on funding in this month's state budget but was hopeful the government and big corporate sponsors would still come on board.

"I urge everyone to become a friend on our Facebook site and 'poke a pollie' by saying they don't mind seeing our taxes go to work for this cause. "

Details: www.defibforlife.org.au or info

@defibforlife.org.au