Clubs urged to review stadium perimeter safety following death of English footballer

Billy Vigar died in late September after suffering a serious brain injury during a match between Wingate and Finchley and his team Chichester City.

The 21-year-old former Arsenal youth player is thought to have collided with the perimeter wall along the pitch.

Jon Cowlan, a health and safety expert at Pinsent Masons, said clubs needed to take action to avoid risking their players’ wellbeing.

“Over the last couple of years there have been other incidents involving injury caused by collision with perimeter walls,” he said.

“All football clubs should be mindful of the need to assess reasonably foreseeable risks and control players exposure to them in this context.”

The Health and Safety at Work Act requires employers – including sporting organisations – to make sure employees and others are safe in their workplaces and to carry out risk assessment.

The issue of perimeter safety has come under the spotlight in recent times through player injuries. Earlier last month, Carrick Rangers player Paul Heatley was left with concussion and a head wound during a match in Northern Ireland after colliding with a perimeter wall, while Bath City striker Alex Fletcher was sidelined for almost a year after requiring major head surgery following a collision with pitchside concrete advertising hoardings in 2022.

A year later, then UK government sports minister, Stuart Andrew, and players’ union chief executive Maheta Molango wrote to the Premier League, English Football League, National League and the FA urging a review of safety procedures around stadium perimeter fences and walls in the wake of Fletcher’s accident.

The FA said it was now reviewing the safety of National League stadiums after Vigar’s death.

“Whilst the health and safety of participants and spectators at the National League System level is the responsibility of the clubs and their local authorities, we will now conduct an immediate review, working with leagues, clubs and relevant stakeholders across the game, that will focus on the safety of perimeter walls and boundaries around pitches in the National League System,” the governing body said in a statement.

“This will include looking at ways we can assist National League System clubs to identify and implement additional measures at their stadiums that they determine will help to mitigate any potential safety risks.”