preventable

The death of ex-Arsenal youth player Billy Vigar was “entirely preventable”, says former Bath City striker Alex Fletcher.

Vigar, 21, died on Thursday after sustaining a “significant brain injury” while playing for Chichester City the previous Saturday.

It is thought the injury was caused when he collided with a concrete wall, but the club has not confirmed this.

Fletcher retired from football at the age of 25 after crashing into concrete advertising hoardings during a National League South game for Bath City.

The now 26-year-old was placed in a coma after emergency surgery and did not play for 10 months. He has since taken a role in the brain health department within the Professional Footballers’ Association to advocate for enhanced player safety in football grounds.

“This was an entirely preventable situation,” Fletcher told BBC Breakfast.

“It brought a lot of emotions flooding back for me but my overriding emotion was frustration that the calls for change haven’t been listened to by the FA.

“I’m afraid this will not be the last [death] if action isn’t taken.”

The Football Association said it will carry out an immediate safety review of perimeter walls at football grounds in the National League system following Vigar’s death.

“This will include looking at ways we can assist National League system clubs to identify and implement additional measures at their stadiums that they determine will help to mitigate any potential safety risks,” its statement said.

However, Fletcher said there must be urgent action.

“I think it’s too little, too late,” said Fletcher.

“I think if you asked Billy’s family they would say, is it going to bring their son back?

“It’s something that needs to happen urgently because there are hundreds of football matches being played across the country at all levels where this kind of incident could occur again.

“It’s billed as a freak accident [but] it’s an accident waiting to happen, quite frankly.”

The FA has been contacted for comment.

UN humanitarian agency stresses need for fuel, medical supplies and water in Palestinian territory besieged by Israel.

The United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) has warned that preventable diseases in Gaza are on the rise and killing civilians due to the lack of desperately needed medicine and clean water.

OCHA in a statement on Thursday said that in the past two weeks, “more than 19,000 cases of acute watery diarrhoea have been recorded, alongside over 200 cases each of acute jaundice syndrome and bloody diarrhoea “.

“These outbreaks are directly linked to the lack of clean water and sanitation in Gaza, underscoring the urgent need for fuel, medical supplies, and water, sanitation and hygiene items to prevent further collapse of the public health system,” the agency added.

Israel’s blockade on fuel entry into Gaza has paralysed the territory’s desalination plants and water system.

The Israeli military has destroyed much of Gaza, displaced nearly the entire population of the territory and placed a suffocating siege on the enclave. Besides the dire humanitarian conditions, the Israeli military continues to kill dozens of Palestinians in Gaza daily.

Leading rights groups and UN experts have described the Israeli campaign as a genocide.

OCHA said on Thursday that more than 20 people were killed and about 70 others were injured after a strike on Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.

Medical sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli attacks killed at least 71 people across Gaza on Thursday.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, at least 56,259 people have been killed, and 132,458 others have been wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

After a more than two-month blockade of essential goods entering Gaza, the Israeli government announced it was allowing aid to re-enter the enclave in May.

However, due to Israeli restrictions, the amount of aid entering has been minimal, with aid agencies referring to it as a “drop in the ocean”.

Much of the aid allowed in has been through the United States and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has been condemned by aid agencies as a “weaponisation” of humanitarian goods.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a video message that the army was being asked to draft a new plan to deliver aid to Gaza after unverified footage showed masked men on top of aid trucks in northern Gaza.

While Israel has claimed the men were Hamas members, Palestinian clan leaders with no affiliation with the group said the masked men were protecting the truck from being looted.

Multiple UN officials have refuted Israel’s claims that Hamas steals humanitarian aid. Last month, Israeli officials acknowledged arming criminal gangs linked to looting the assistance in order to rival Hamas.