At plenty of non-league grounds in England there is a low wall a few feet from the touchline. Brick, breeze block or concrete, built decades ago and left standing ever since. For years it was treated as part of the furniture. It was also a hazard, sitting inches from where the game is played.
From this season, those walls are going.
The FA has banned solid brick, breeze block and concrete perimeter barriers at Steps 1 to 6 of the men's National League System and Tiers 3 and 4 of the Women's National League, under its updated Stadium Accreditation Criteria for the 2026-27 season. Clubs must remove existing barriers as soon as reasonably practicable. Where a barrier cannot be removed for structural reasons, it must be covered with suitable protection instead. Matches can continue at affected grounds in the meantime, provided clubs keep assessing the risk and have a plan to make the changes within a reasonable timeframe.
The review covered roughly 900 clubs playing at these levels. Press Association Sport understands around 160 of them have been contacted about at least one part of their ground that needs modifying. So this is not every club, but it is a lot of clubs, and if yours is one of them you will already have heard from the FA.
The change follows the death of Billy Vigar. The Chichester City forward, a former Arsenal academy player, was 21 when he suffered a significant brain injury in a collision with a perimeter wall during a match against Wingate & Finchley in September 2025. He died days later. His death led the FA to review pitch perimeter safety across the whole National League System, working with independent health and safety experts. That review has now given its answer, and it is the strongest one available: the walls go.
For the volunteers who run clubs at this level, the first question will be a practical one. Who pays? Taking down a wall, or replacing it with something safe, is a real job for a club whose ground is looked after by a handful of people who already give up their evenings and weekends. There is help. The FA and the Premier League will provide funding through the Premier League Stadium Fund to support clubs making the required changes.
