The Football Association (FA) has updated its stadium accreditation criteria, banning solid concrete, brick, or breeze block barriers around pitches. This change follows the death of former Arsenal academy player Billy Vigar, who died a year ago today from a significant brain injury after colliding with a concrete wall.
Vigar's parents accuse the FA of doing "nothing" after previous similar incidents, citing the death of amateur footballer Ben Hiscox in 2015 and life-changing injuries sustained by Alex Fletcher in 2022. Camilla Vigar stated that Wingate and Finchley FC, where Billy lost his life, was highlighted as a high-risk club in a previous FA review.
The updated criteria, implemented last month, requires 169 clubs in the men's National League System and women's National League to make changes "as soon as is reasonably practicable." Where walls are structural, they must be covered with suitable protection like padding. The FA and Premier League are providing funding for these modifications, with clubs like Bromsgrove Sporting and Bath City welcoming the changes.
Billy's father, Keith Vigar, and Alex Fletcher are calling for the regulations to be extended to all levels of football, not just the National League System, expressing concern that unsafe pitch perimeters may still exist in organised football.