Dangerous Boots Are Legal Yet Again

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Ardea Sivea will be wearing his glasses for the first time in an international when New Zealand face Canada.

It is amazing what medical sciences have come up with for sportsmen these days. Gone are the days of stopping every 20 minutes to adjust a contact lens. Ardea Sivea has deteriorating eye sight in his left eye and luckily for him another player had tested them out a while ago. Ian Mckinley is in fact blind in one eye after he was trodden on and a stud detached his retina. That is a freakish accident and the first one I have heard of anything like that happening.

What I can't understand is why someone can't come up with a safe stud for a rugby boot. Once you have someones body weight on a small metal stud unless it is brand new it could do damage. Players may change their studs once or twice a season as in our throw away society boots don't last that long. My boots used to last a season if I was lucky and had one pair last only one match.

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A single stud at the front of the boot was banned, but Adidas have re introduced this stud layout. The single stud was used for raking the "ball" but obviously was a great instrument on the body.

Most rugby boots have metal studs and walking on concrete or tarmac doesn't make them very friendly. The laws of the game have changed over the years and you aren't allowed to remove players lying in the way with your boots. Players believe it or not used to do it on purpose slowing down the ball and we used to give them a shoeing with the studs reminding them it wasn't a good idea. The idea was never to hurt the guy too badly or put him in hospital, but still do some damage.

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Player blocking the ball and on the wrong side about to be raked. Players got banned for a few games after this as it is no longer acceptable in todays game yet this is mild.

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The end result from the above photograph. Doesn't look great I must admit and it will sting for a while as most rugby players 20 years ago learnt the basics the hard way. I had it happen a few times ,but in all honesty did try to avoid it as it was never pleasant. Sometimes it just happened and you fell the wrong way.

In my playing days it was allowed as long as it was from the neck down as the head was off limits. We never used to sharpen our studs on purpose, but I have heard of people being cut up quite badly. Think of a flat surface and over time those flat surfaces have pieces of metal that are no longer flat, but have jagged rough edges now. They are like little knives that will cut through flesh like butter.

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One of the worst head injuries I have seen, but at least this guy has both his eyes. I would rather have this injury than lose an eye. This was a mild injury to what I have seen today researching this article so you can get an idea on how bad some really are.

A player scalped whilst playing a club game in New Zealand this year.Yes the player shouldn't have put his boots anywhere near his head, but I would say poor officiating as there are certain things refs must all do before a game. I used to spend a good 5 minutes in each changing room lining the teams up and feeling the studs for any sharp edges. If any were suspect they had to remove them or swap them with a new stud. That is just common sense and looking out for the welfare of the players. Ex players will do that you would think so I gather it was an academy ref who never played a minute of rugby in his life.

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Football boots are an obvious no no as these studs go towards a point and are deemed dangerous.

Metal studs have been around for decades and should still be safe but loads of players have moved to blades which are made out of plastic. I actually think they could be worse as plastic can become sharp as well and long and narrow pieces of sharp plastic with the weight of someone would still slice you open. I was going to post another photograph, but it was too gruesome and honestly looked like a shark attack. Fortunately doctors managed to save that players leg and it happened only 3 years ago in Wales. When doctors talk about saving a leg from a rugby stud cut you can imagine how bad it really was. If you are curious go and Google it.

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The boot on the right was legal as the studs were of the correct size and layout. However in 2017 the boot on the left was deemed legal as well and no wonder we are seeing injuries like I have googled today. Those edges will become sharp and do a serious injury. It looks like The RFU has compromised it's rules and regulations endangering the players.

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The rules as I know them and are obviously outdated now.

Boot studs had to be a minimum of 10 mm wide and have seen studs that are half that and are seriously dangerous. The problem is you get players buying football boots and using them for rugby and the studs are different. With nearly 75% of all rugby games world wide being reffed by someone with no experience these injuries will keep on occurring. The sport doesn't have enough officials and recall doing 3 games in one day due to the shortages. Players need to give back and this is the easiest way to stay connected to the sport.