Billy Vigar, a 21-year-old former Arsenal academy player and Chichester City striker, died on September 25, 2025, after colliding with a concrete wall at Wingate and Finchley FC. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the incident.
In response to the fatality, the Football Association (FA) has updated its stadium criteria to prohibit solid brick, breeze block, or concrete barriers around pitches in the National League System and the Women's National League. The governing body has notified 169 clubs that they must implement safety modifications, including the addition of padding to structural walls, as soon as reasonably practicable.
Alex Fletcher, who sustained a fractured skull after hitting concrete barriers at Bath City in 2022, noted that the FA did not act on his previous campaigning regarding pitch perimeter safety until the death of Vigar.