Paul Hanlon sat with his head in his hands as he watched medics battle to save Christian Eriksen’s life.
The Inter Milan and Denmark star collapsed during the first half of his country’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland and it quickly became apparent that something was very wrong.
Surrounded by his distraught teammates, Eriksen was given CPR, initially by captain Simon Kjaer before the paramedics took over, and they could clearly be seen trying to shock the midfielder’s heart back into life.
This was controversially played to a TV audience of millions before the local TV director cut back to respective broadcast studios.
Scotland international Hanlon was one of those watching on in horror at home.
Thankfully, Eriksen made it thanks to the efforts of those around him and was transferred to a hospital in Copenhagen for further treatment.
Such scenes hammered it home to Hanlon how key his foundation’s defibrillator initiative is.
The Hanlon Stevenson Foundation, set up in conjunction with long-serving Hibs teammate Lewis Stevenson, have ensured life saving equipment is available to local boys football clubs in Edinburgh such as Hutchison Vale, Leith Athletic and Salvesen.
“It was terrible, said Hanlon. “I’m sure everyone was the same watching it, it was one of the worst things I’ve ever watched during a football match.
“I was sitting on the couch with my head in my hands. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was really distressing and just put to the forefront of our minds how important it is to get defibrillators out to people.
“This was an initiative we’ve had in place for a while now since when we started the Foundation.
“That really brought into focus to really get these distributed to all the local football clubs. Hopefully they’re never used but if they’re needed then delighted they will be in place to help people.”
