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The Tragedy of Billy Vigar and

The pitch barrier debate

Pitch barriers, compliance and a discussion for change.

26/09/2025. The tragic passing this week of young footballer Billy Vigar (a month before his 22nd birthday) has focused minds on how such a terrible accident at a non-league football match could have been prevented. Quite rightly so. The player suffered serious head injury after colliding with the pitch perimeter structure during a league match.

A solid block wall at Wingate & Finchley FC where the match was held is the structure, better known and for compliance purposes as a pitch perimeter barrier. This is something that defines a boundary and separates players from spectators. Normally at National League System football one may expect to find a round steel post and mesh infilled structure that prevents the ball passing through it. The latter element of the structure is a requirement at Step 4 of the pyramid and above. Wingate and Finchley are a Step 3 club playing their league football in the Isthmian Premier Division. Below Step 4 a simple post and rail affair will suffice (within defined parameters).

The rules and regulations surrounding football grounds in the NLS are fairly tightly controlled by comprehensive ground grading or (latterly known as) Stadium Accreditation compliance documents. These set out all manner of things pertaining to the ground itself and define a set of parameters for all NLS grounds, depending on the level the club are playing at. The highest requirements are at Step 1, the lowest at entry level, Step 6. Grounds are inspected every 3 years and for the last 17 years I have been one of those few independent FA ground Inspectors. And I have inspected the ground at Wingate and Finchley more than once in that time.

Let me say straight away that whenever I encounter a walled pitch barrier I flinch, but generally and not up until now so much from a player perspective. I flinch at the memory of watching a pitch wall collapse from a surge of fans whilst watching a match at Leyton Orient and countless other times I have seen it happen at other grounds in videos and pictures (it is still happening). Unsupported walls are notoriously weak under pressure and their continued presence at football grounds is a throw back to the days when these grounds were built, many, many years ago and before the advent of and widely available advanced and strong but lightweight perimeter barriers made of steel and mesh. Some walled structures have now been strengthened by steel pole bracing, others have not. I will go into this subject in more detail a bit later.

A myriad of pitch barrier types can be seen throughout non-league football

Options, solutions, funding.

Back to how the pitch barrier could affect player welfare and it is clear now that solid walls are not appropriate. A wider pitch run-off would be good but some grounds are tightly drawn and this is likely to be prohibitive. New grounds are specified to have a wider run-off. The alternative for existing grounds is to decrease the minimum pitch size from 100m x 64m to allow for a deeper run off but this would have huge implications. Much more practical is for solid walls as pitch barriers to be effectively banned, removed and replaced by a suitable structure as defined perhaps by the new ground build terms as stated in the Stadium Accreditation document. Where walls make up only a part of pitch barrier system, there is a company that makes padding that could be fixed in place and certainly provide some protection. It is doubtful this is wholly practical though to install on all 4 sides of a pitch. I would go further to be comprehensive in this change of thinking and also suggest a ban and require replacement of all concrete supporting posts for pitch barriers. These are unyielding and importantly square in nature providing the added issue of hard blunt edges that could exacerbate injury risk. Of course, a player interacting with any style of pitch barrier could caused harm, but using modern, slimmer round steel posts to support a barrier can help to reduce this risk. (A body part can move around a slim, round metal post a lot easier than it can a solid square concrete post. Mesh infill allows for some give on impact, unlike concrete, block or brick).

To implement a comprehensive change to the structure of pitch barriers across the NLS would undoubtedly cost a lot of money and possibly £millions. The cost of installing a whole new enclosure ranging from an estimated £25,000 to £40,000 per ground. However, the new digital Stadium Power inspection system should be able to provide evidence of the number of grounds affected within hours and an outline cost implementation could be estimated within a few days, rather than a few months.

Through The Football Foundation and Premier League Stadium Fund an allocation of funds provided by grants to affected clubs could be made available and fed (if necessary) by a one-off increase in funding from The Premier League and FA as required. A structured allocation of funds to clubs for the work to be done could be defined by region after a collaboration with pitch barrier system suppliers in order to complete works as soon as possible without overloading the supply system.

And what happens now?

Out of the tragedy of Billy Vigar, should be the 'Billy Vigar Fund'.  This could be costed by The Football Foundation, funded by the Premier League, titled to honour the player and his family and delivered through The Football Foundation. This would allow for a necessary improvement to player welfare across the National League System and whilst no injury risk can be removed, importantly the risk can be reduced. If a rapid inspection process is required to ensure every ground with a potential issue is properly identified, so be it. But that needs to happen quickly after identifying the grounds and deciding on a way forward before the vivid memory of this event fades.

A proper investigation will follow the passing of this football player and young man with his life ahead of him, no doubt and may have already started. As some matches have already been postponed at the time of writing this, I personally see it difficult to believe that change will not be forthcoming. A kneejerk reaction is to be avoided, but a thorough consideration is required and it seems the solution to a clear and obvious conclusion is one that could be implemented in a reasonable timeframe for the benefit of everyone who attends football matches at Steps 1 through 4 of the National League System, especially the participants.

For now, all our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Billy Vigar.

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