Compared to many youngsters, Billy Vigar joined the football system late – and yet his talent was still recognised.
He was scouted by Arsenal while playing for local club Hove Rivervale in Sussex, and joined the Premier League side’s academy.
“It was just an amazing feeling,” said his father.
“Sort of like your son’s been chosen. And I’d always promised him a decent pair of football boots if he joined an academy. So yeah, since then it’s cost me a fortune.
“He was something different, Billy. I think most, even at Arsenal, they saw something different in him. He was a great athlete, basically. And that started from an early age with his brother, who quickly learned there’s not much point trying to challenge him because he wanted to win.”
Injuries followed, and Vigar was recuperating from one such setback while playing for Chichester City FC, where he had made an instant impression.
Darin Kilpatrick, the club’s first-team manager, said: “He was so coachable, he would run in behind, he would drop in short. His hold-up play was excellent and obviously he had an eye for a goal which all strikers have to have.
“To be fair, the way Bills was playing in his last couple of games that we had him, we would probably have only been able to keep him another six months before we moved him on into the higher levels where he belonged.”
Asked what level he was aiming for with Billy, Kilpatrick said: “He would have gone into the National League or [English] Football League, without a doubt.”
Watching football again has been difficult for Keith Vigar.
“It did become less important, far less important to start with, the struggle to get back into it,” he said. “When we went to see Chichester in that sense, first off, it’s hard because you’re just thinking, ‘Billy should be out there, Billy should be playing’ and that sort of thing. That’s been hard.”
The Vigars said Chichester FC have been “amazing” during the past year, including designing a kit that makes moving but subtle references to their son.
They want accountability and answers. They are awaiting the inquest, which is likely to take place next year.
But today, as they mark the one-year anniversary of their son’s tragic accident, they will pour all their focus into climbing Snowdon with their children Phoebe and Ollie, and the family of Billy’s girlfriend Lois.
“I think it just gives us something to focus on and gives us a challenge to do,” Keith Vigar said. “And I know he’d have liked to do that. I’m sure he will be with us somewhere, looking over us in some way or form, having a laugh at us, no doubt, in the rain.”