Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Football boots date back in the time of King Henry VIII

Football boots date back in the time of King Henry VIII. His majesty ordered several pairs in 1526…45 velvet pairs plus 1 leather pair for football. Ever since then soccer shoes have progressed to become an essential part of the sport and nowadays they are made with materials such as carbon fiber and man made leather. Like football itself Nike Soccer Cleats have gone through many improvements through the years. Just before 1891 studs…blades or any other form of sole were not allowed. After the 1891 changes…studs and blades became legitimate so long as they were made from leather but not as big as half an inch. These types of studs and blades had been originally hammered into the boots and professional players of that time period had quite a few pairs with different stud lengths which is probably the first time soccer boots have evolved.

The 2nd evolution began in the mid-1950s and it is the most controversial. Soccer heritage mentioned that during the 1950’s in Switzerland…Adidas who was Germany's boot supplier kitted the German team using the very first ever screw-in-studs football boots. However…Puma have counter believed they had been supplying screw-in-studs as early as 1952. But whomever created screw-in-studs the next development had been the invention of the screw-in-studs boots. However…between 1950 and 1960 soccer shoe design took a huge leap forward and boots actually begun to make a difference on the sport. In Northern Europe soccer boots still had the ankle protection…and the true reason they were called boots. However…in South America the shoes were much more flexible and lighter weight with no need of ankle protection. It had been a boot made to increase soccer ball control… improve kicking power and make players move faster and switch direction faster. The company Adidas then produced a new type of soccer boot which had more grip between the ball and boot and as well as larger contact areas…and a number of power and swerve zones…it allowed players to produce greater swerves and more powerful strikes of the ball.

This kind of technology was just the beginning of what was to come. Polymer extrusion technology and other materials permitted the design of a extra flexible sole…and studs were replaced by blades which provided players much more stability. Today there are football boots that weigh only 200g and with each passing football season…the football boots are getting more and more advanced…and now there are carbon sole plates adaptive studs that will extend and retract by up to 3mm. Looking to the long run there's likely to be more advancements to soccer boot technology which will make the players perform even better and possibly shoes that could react to certain pitch conditions…whether that be rainfall during the game or the pitch becoming drier…the boots will adjust accordingly. Boot technology has come such a long way since King Henry VIII and exactly who knows what other parts of soccer will change just like Nike CTR360 soccer shoes. 

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