Almost a year ago, former Arsenal Youth Player Billy Vigler died tragically doing the thing which he loved most. On the pitch, playing football. The 21-year-old was playing for football club Chichester in an away match against Wingate & Finchley at Barnet in North London after feeling contact from one of the players near the touchline. His head collided with the concrete-block perimeter, which was less than three meters from the touchline.

The aspiring footballer was in an induced coma and underwent surgery, but it did not help, as Billy passed away a couple of days later.

“We want justice,” said his father Keith, speaking to The Athletic. We want to know why Billy had to lose his life for anything to happen.”

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Dr Anthony Bleetman, who treated him, wrote in his report: “Billy Vigar sustained a massive head injury caused by a single impact against a wall.

“Had the wall not been there, it is highly likely that this head injury would not have occurred. Had the collision (as seen on the video) occurred without the wall being where it was, it is almost a certainty that Billy Vigar would have sustained minor injuries only.”

It was not an isolated incident either; not long before Billy’s incident, another footballer, Alex Fletcher, was left in a critical condition after a mishap where he collided the back of his head on a breeze-block wall at Twerton Park stadium in England. Danny Clarke was a victim before that, and Ben Hiscox died in 2015.

After the Fletcher’s incident in June 2023, Maheta Molango, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), met with the UK’s then sports minister, Stuart Andrew, and FA CEO Mark Bullingham, asking the FA to “take a proactive approach… to help improve player safety”.

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However, the Football Association (FA) told The Athletic: “Last year it reviewed 890 non-League grounds after Fletcher’s head injury, yet it’s unclear how any of the information gathered during that research was used to address the PFA’s concerns. Perimeter walls made of brick, concrete and breeze-blocks remained in place all over the country and, tragically, Billy ended up losing his life.”

“That’s what makes me so angry. They (the FA) are such a big organisation that they can get away with not doing a lot. Obviously, we’ve got our grief, we’ve got grandparents’ grief, we’ve got siblings’ grief, Lois’ grief. But the biggest thing which makes me so angry is that Billy was 21,” said Billy’s mother, Camilla.