Vigar sustained a \u201csignificant brain injury\u201d while playing for Chichester City against Wingate and Finchley after attempting to prevent the ball from crossing the touchline.<\/p>\n
After being taken to hospital and placed in an induced coma, Vigar underwent surgery aimed at helping his recovery but he died on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
His death comes almost three years after the Professional Footballers\u2019 Association [PFA] demanded that safety rules around advertising boards be \u201cfully reviewed\u201d.<\/p>\n
The PFA\u2019s call followed a similar injury suffered by Bath City striker Alex Fletcher, who collided with a concrete-backed advertising hoarding, leading his retirement at the age of 25.<\/p>\n
Following Vigar\u2019s death, a petition calling for the \u201cremoval of brick walls and other hard, immovable structures surrounding pitches\u201d has received thousands of signatures.<\/p>\n
The petition, titled Vigar\u2019s Law, states: \u201cBilly\u2019s passing is not an isolated incident \u2013 countless players at all levels have suffered serious injuries, including broken bones, concussions, and life-altering trauma, as a result of these dangerous barriers.<\/p>\n
\u201cFootball is meant to be a sport of passion, skill, and community – not a place where a simple fall or a mistimed run can result in permanent injury or death.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet many pitches, especially at grassroots and community level, remain bordered by solid brick walls placed only a few feet from the touchline. These walls serve no essential sporting purpose, yet they create an undeniable and avoidable hazard.\u201d<\/p>\n
It adds: \u201cBilly Vigar\u2019s death must be the last. We owe it to his memory- and to every player who steps onto a football pitch\u2014to ensure that no one else suffers such a needless tragedy. Football should be a game of joy and community, not a place where preventable hazards claim young lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Football Association has been contacted for comment, but a statement on Thursday said: \u201cWe are devastated to hear that Billy Vigar has passed away. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, loved ones, and everyone at Chichester City FC at this incredibly difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vigar joined Arsenal’s academy on schoolboy terms aged 14 and the young forward went on to earn a full-time scholarship for the 2020\/21 season.<\/p>\n
Although he appeared for the Gunners in the EFL Trophy, Vigar, who also had a loan spell with Derby Under-21s and at Eastbourne Borough, left the club in the summer of 2024, signing for Hastings before a move to Chichester last month.<\/p>\n
A statement from Vigar’s family, posted by Chichester, read: “After sustaining a significant brain injury last Saturday, Billy Vigar was put in an induced coma.<\/p>\n
“On Tuesday, he needed an operation to aid any chances of recovery. Although this helped, the injury proved too much for him and he passed away on Thursday (25th) morning.<\/p>\n
“The responses to the original update show how much Billy was thought of and loved within the sport. His family are devastated that this has happened whilst he was playing the sport that he loved.”<\/p>\n
“Everyone at Arsenal is devastated by the shocking news that former academy graduate Billy Vigar has passed away,” the Premier League club said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“All our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this time. Rest in peace, Billy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vigar sustained a \u201csignificant brain injury\u201d while playing for Chichester City against Wingate and Finchley after attempting to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[2725,18,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-86614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}