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LONDON - Wayne Rooney's third foot fracture in three years has once again turned the spotlight on the design of modern-day soccer boots.
The Manchester United and England striker faces two months on the sidelines with a hairline fracture in his left foot after an innocuous clash with
Reading's Michael Duberry on Sunday.
He also cracked his foot before last year's World Cup finals and at Euro 2004, adding to a long list of high-profile England players to suffer metatarsal injuries since David Beckham famously broke one before the 2002 World Cup finals.
While the major sportswear brands defend their futuristic footwear from mounting criticism, pioneering boot designer Craig Johnston believes not enough is being done for player safety.
"It's only a matter of time before a player gets so seriously injured that he sues a major sportswear company," former Liverpool player Johnston, who designed the Adidas Predator boot, said.
Swiss tennis player Martina Hingis once took that course of action, filing a US$40 million ($55 million) lawsuit against Italian sportswear company Sergio Tacchini whose shoes she endorsed.
Hingis suffered a chronic foot injury in 1998 while playing at the US Open and blamed the poor design of the shoes she was endorsing.
Football boots have evolved from traditional leather with standardised stud patterns to sleek synthetic models boasting gismos like traction control, cooling systems and anti-roll bars on the soles.
Former England internationals Ian Wright and Jamie Redknapp both joined the boot debate on Tuesday, with Wright describing them as "flimsy" and like "paper".
Redknapp said in the Daily Mail: "The obsession with performance - lighter and more dynamic boots, with cutting edge, high-tech developments - seems to have undermined the need for protection."
Australian Johnston said the problem was more complex.
"The boots are almost offering too much protection," he said.
"I've worked in a German lab examining the forces on an athlete's body.
"What is happening now is that the boots are so well designed, the weave of the pitches so tight, and the players so powerful and quick that huge forces are going into the human bone structure.
"There is no give in the studs or the pitches. The studs actually engage too much with the turf.
"I was in the business of designing boots with more purchase on the ground, but now boots need more release because players have evolved into super athletes."
Johnston also called for FIFA to outlaw certain types of studs, saying some of the materials used on the soles of boots were especially dangerous.
"A player could lose half his face if he was kicked by some of the studs now being used," he said.
"Not enough is being done to protect players, I've been saying it for many years. I can't understand the major sportswear firms not taking it more seriously.
"I remember referees checking studs before players went on to the pitch and I think we need to return to that.
"Forget all the fancy designs, we need to get back to boots and studs that protect players' welfare."
- REUTERS
