Soham chairman 'duty bound' to improve pitch safety after Billy Vigar death
The FA's ordered clubs with brick or concrete barriers to be removed
The chairman of a non-league football club in Cambridgeshire says there can be no repeat of what happened to a player who died after colliding with a concrete barrier.
Chichester City striker Billy Vigar suffered a fatal head injury after trying to keep the ball in play during a match at Wingate and Finchley in September last year.
Billy's death prompted a safety review by the FA, which "no longer permits solid brick, breeze block or concrete barriers around pitches across the National League System for men (steps 1-6), and the Women's National League (tiers 3-4)."
"Any tragic incident such as this, there need to be learnings from it and a reaction to it," Jonathan James, chairman at Soham Town Rangers FC, said.
"If something like this has happened, we're all duty bound to make sure it can't happen again."
The FA said it has contacted clubs at these levels who will need to take action.
"Any existing solid brick, breeze block or concrete barriers must be removed as soon as reasonably practicable, or covered with suitable protection if they cannot be removed for structural reasons," it said.
'A major task'
English football's governing body also confirmed that matches can still be played at affected grounds while work takes place, and that clubs should assess pitch barriers on a regular basis.
Soham currently play at Step 5 of the National League System in the Eastern Counties Premier Division, the ninth tier of English men's football.
Mr James believes the club has had concrete barriers for at least "25, 30 years; thankfully there's never been an issue.
"There's a lot of wall to take down; it's a major task in itself without replacing it, so we're working through the timings but will keep everyone posted as and when the works start."
Safety is paramount - chairman
Funding to help with replacing existing pitch barriers will be provided by the FA and the Premier League through the Premier League Stadium Fund.
With the new season under way, Mr James said it's unclear how long the work will take to complete, but knows the long-term benefit will be worth it.
"This was a tragic accident; the time, effort, cost in comparison to saving a life or serious injury, there's no sums to do there, it's crucial that we do it (the work), whatever time it takes,"
"The work everybody's doing, from the FA right through to clubs like ourselves, to prevent such a further incident is in the right interests of everybody.
"There's nothing more important to us as a club than the safety of our players and spectators."