A CHARITY that has won support in the North-East for its campaign to have young people screened for heart defects has welcomed a plan to check the health of all footballers taking part in this summer's World Cup.

Cardiac Risk in the Young (Cry) has won backing in the region, including from Stockton South MP Dari Taylor.

Mrs Taylor got involved in the campaign after a string of deaths involving young people in the North-East.

FIFA has announced that all sportsmen who take part in the World Cup, in Germany, will be screened for potential heart defects.

Yesterday, officials from Cry welcomed the news from FIFA, but the charity warned that there is still a long way to go to save the eight young people who die every week from unexplained cardiac death.

Recently, The Northern Echo reported that Mrs Taylor was angry at the apparent failure to put new guidelines into practice.

A year ago, Mrs Taylor was celebrating after the Government announced it was adopting her screening proposals, aimed at reducing the death toll from rare heart defects.

But despite a change to the National Service Framework for the management of heart patients, a survey by Cry revealed that 97 per cent of primary care trusts have failed to put into practice any of the proposals.

The guidelines call for young people with a family history of heart problems, or any history of breathlessness or blackouts, to be referred to a specialist to see if an undetected heart defect could be to blame.

One of the highest profile cases of sudden cardiac death was Cameroon footballer Marc-Vivien Foe, who collapsed and died during a Confederations Cup match in 2003.

Among the suspected victims in the North-East were brother and sister Ann-Marie and Daniel Readshaw, from Ferryhill, County Durham, who died two years apart.