FA bans solid pitch walls after Vigar death
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- Billy Vigar, a 21-year-old former Arsenal youth player, died in September 2025 after sustaining a "significant brain injury" while playing for Chichester City at Wingate and Finchley FC, with the injury thought to be caused by a collision with a concrete wall
- The Football Association has banned solid brick, breeze block, and concrete barriers around pitches across the men's National League (steps 1-6) and Women's National League (tiers 3-4), effective for the 2026-27 season
- The FA stated existing solid barriers must be removed "as soon as reasonably practicable" or covered with suitable protection if they cannot be removed for structural reasons, while matches can continue at affected grounds during the transition
- The FA and Premier League will jointly provide funding to facilitate the required changes at affected clubs
- A petition calling for a ban on brick walls around football pitches received more than 4,000 signatures after Vigar's death
- The government and the Professional Footballers' Association wrote to the FA, Premier League, English Football League and National League in June 2023 calling for a more proactive approach to player safety, after Bath City's Alex Fletcher suffered a fractured skull colliding with a concrete advertising hoarding in November 2022
Why it matters: Every men's National League (steps 1-6) and Women's National League (tiers 3-4) club now faces a mandate to remove or cover solid barriers before the 2026-27 season, backed by FA and Premier League funding. The rule closes a gap flagged in a June 2023 government letter after Alex Fletcher's skull fracture — Vigar's death forced action that years of advocacy could not.
