A REFEREE who suffered a cardiac arrest during a match said he owes his life to the rugby players who came to his rescue.

Tim Wynn, 52, from Blandford, went into cardiac arrest three minutes into the fixture between Pewsey Vale and Swindon in January.

Pewsey Vale full back, Frank Poulson, the club’s first aider, was the first person to assist him.

“I don’t remember starting the game,” said Mr Wynn.

“All I remember is arriving at the game and getting changed. I have no memory of the pain or collapsing. I’ve been told by others that very early on into the game, I keeled over.

“Luckily for me, I had Frank Poulson, Toni Bloomfield and Phil Hobbs there, who recognised I was having a heart attack and immediately gave me CPR.

“The paramedics assured me later that they were life-savers and I’m eternally grateful to them,” he continued.

The players also used one of the village’s defibrillators to keep the retired police officer alive, until paramedics from Wiltshire Air Ambulance arrived.

Mr Wynn said: “Despite me being quite a ‘challenge’, according to the paramedic, Ross Culligan, they managed to keep me alive en route to Bristol Royal Infirmary.

“I was clinically dead for 30 minutes and in a coma for four days.

“They had to put a stent in the offending artery and, after I came round, I actually felt in quite good shape.

“They kept me in to recover for a few weeks and I also had to have a quadruple bypass operation.

“Ironically, the doctor said I’ve got quite a strong heart and I should be back refereeing by next season,” he added.

Mr Wynn also gave credit to the three nurses who looked after him while he was in hospital: Vicky Phillips, Emily Whight and Ed Kugombo.

The father-of-three, who used to live in Lytchett Matravers, has not met the players who saved his life since his ordeal but said he ‘owed them everything’.

He added: “Thanks to them, I was able to make my grandchild’s seventh birthday party recently, which was very emotional and I’m very grateful.”