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Evander Sno travelled to Scotland for Phil O'Donnell's funeral after the Motherwell captain died of heart failure on the pitch at Fir Park nearly three years ago.

Now Sno's coach at Ajax, Albert Van der Dussen, has revealed he feared the former Celtic midfielder would lose his life when he collapsed and had to be revived by a defibrillator on three occasions during a reserve match in Amsterdam on Monday night.

Stewart Hillis is the heart specialist in charge of the SFA's cardiac screening programme and he is making it his mission to see there are no other tragedies, or near-death experiences, if he can possibly help it.

That's why the former Scotland doctor, and the man who was in charge of the national team's medical staff on the night Jock Stein died of a heart attack in Cardiff 25 years ago, is today asking for government funding to protect our football community.

A research programme undertaken by Hillis will be discussed by an all-party group at Holyrood tonight and Sno's brush with death has, however regrettably, added weight to the request for continued financial backing.

Sno suffered cardiac arrest 18 minutes after going on to the pitch as a half-time substitute.

The 23-year old fell to the ground and had to be treated for 10 minutes before being taken to hospital.

Van der Dussen said: "At first I thought he had stumbled but everyone realised very quickly there was something seriously wrong due to the foam around his mouth.

"Fortunately our doctor and physio were there quickly and they performed a heroic act that saved Evander's life.

"They gave him the defibrillator three times when we feared for his life. He was very lucky.

"He looked surprised to see so many people standing round him. I don't think Evander realised what was going on but everyone was greatly relieved when it was all over.

"The ambulance crew then took over and took him to hospital."

Hillis' intention is to eliminate, wherever possible, the element of luck Sno had because everything, and everybody, was in the right place at the right time for him. He wants to replace luck with medical certainty.

Hillis said: "You can be fit but you might not be healthy. We lost Phil tragically and there was a young player at Hamilton who had to have the defibrillator used on him three times during a game.

"He had the appropriate treatment but we couldn't discover a cause for his problem and he's no longer able to play at senior level.

"There were two examples of heart-related problems in a short space of time when statistics say only one in 100,000 sportsmen will have that difficulty.

"Heart-muscle disease is a rare condition but our screening tests have also located young players with high blood pressure and we need to have medical prevention to keep pace with the game.

"Training schedules top players have today are far more rigorous than ever before and the game has speeded up to a remarkable degree. That's why there is a major need for a proper screening programme."

A combination of private funding, SFA backing and government assistance has seen to it that Hillis and his team at Hampden have done everything in their power to safeguard the health of players in this country. Football will do its part to ensure funding for the next three years. The Scottish Parliament is being asked to continue underwriting their part of the bargain.

Hillis added: "We can only be as thorough as we are being with the assistance of funding. Our young players, senior pros and managers must have free access to cardiac screening. How much is it worth to save a life? "There is such a thing as doctorpatient confidentiality so I couldn't possibly go into the names of those involved where the managerial checks are concerned.

"But there have been one or two instances where we have picked up on things that have concerned us.

"We have an advice programme in place and those managers who concerned us were given instructions on what kind of different direction they might take as a result of our medical findings."

The SFA's dedication to isolating problems, providing solutions and generally safeguarding the health of all those involved in senior football involves a weekly vigil.

Hillis said: "Every ground in the SPL must have an ambulance with a defibrillator on board when matches are being played. And the First Aid workers who are there must know how to work them.

"Those of our teams who play in UEFA competitions must have their players screened for heart problems as a stipulation of tournament entry.

"Any of our clubs with a youth programme must have the kids properly checked out as well. We are doing everything within our power to minimise any danger to health. But in Italy every child of secondary school age must be fully checked out and they've found this precaution has reduced the number of heartrelated problems there.

"That's the kind of thing I've included in my report for the Scottish Parliament's consideration and I'll prepare a report every three months to ensure we stay on top of this.

"A player could be fit but might not be healthy if there's abnormality of the heart."