Billy Vigar's mother asks coroner's court why FA did not act on warnings before son's death

Billy Vigar's mother told a coroner's court the FA should have acted on warnings before her son's death from a brain injury sustained playing non-League football in September 2025.

Billy Vigar, a former Arsenal academy player, died in September 2025 at age 21, five days after colliding with a concrete-block wall while playing for Chichester City at Wingate & Finchley in London.

At a pre-inquest review hearing at North London Coroner's Court on Thursday, his mother Camilla questioned why the FA had not acted on previous warnings, citing the deaths of Ben Hiscox in 2015 and Alex Fletcher's serious incident in 2022. She noted that an FA investigation after Fletcher's accident identified around 160 high-risk clubs, including Wingate & Finchley, yet no action was taken until after Billy's death.

Camilla told the court: "I don't understand how the FA waited for Billy to die before they actioned anything when there were so many warnings beforehand." She added that an FA representative had told her they would not have acted on the safety information if Billy had not died.

The family's representatives, including Fletcher himself from the Professional Footballers Association, were present at the hearing. Police investigation into the death is expected to take another two to three months, with the next pre-inquest review scheduled for February 10.