Studs.

locum-motion

There's been a bit of talk on this forum recently triggered by the Tommy Bowe's Bodycheck programme. One thing that's come up is how horrible his injury looked when his foot seemed to stick in the ground and all of his body weight and momentum (amounting to something like 9 times gravity, wasn't it?) was channelled into that hyperextended knee.

Then, of course, in recent weeks we lost Johnny Sexton to a knee injury when his foot seemed to stick to the ground as he tried to fly-hack a loose ball.

What I'd like to know is; what kind of boots/studs were they using, and did they contribute to either injury (or both)?

Whan I played (a while ago now), I used boots with ordinary 18mm metal studs almost all the time. Depending on the boot, it was usually either 4 or 6 to the front, and 2 or 4 at the back of the boot. In later years, when I was working and could afford to have 2 pairs of boots unlike my student years, I had a second pair with moulded studs for when the ground was very hard. Now, when I saw 'moulded studs' I'm still talking about studs. They would be a bit shorter than the typical 18mm rugby studs, but still about 6 (or maybe 8) to the front of the boot and 4 at the back. I don't ever recall seeing a player's foot get stuck to the ground like that 'back in the day'.

Towards the end of my playing career, the Adidas Predator boots started appearing, but it was basically only soccer players wore them. These have the sort of 'blades' moulded into them, rather than studs, and were supposed to give better grip. I think they've made it into modern rugby, so I was wondering does anyone know if either of the lads were wearing this type of boot when they got injured.

jacothelad

Sorry, I thought you were calling me.....................:D:D:D:D

backgreen

the blade has been banned by a number of rugby clubs,when they wear down and sharpen they are leathel

seanm92

Blades are every bit as dangerous as studs IMO. They are longer on the sides than studs, which means that if you turn and your feet get caught in the ground you would have as much if not more chance of injury. Also as mentioned above they become sharper eventually. Furthermore I dont think that blades, mouldies or anything else would have prevented bowes injury. with his leg out that far the force once he landed was what did the trick. IMO it was an unfortunate injury more due to trying to regain his balance moreso than anything else

Funk It

Bladed boots should be illegal in rugby in my opinion, and I have the large facial scar to back it up.

Not too sure on the case of Bowe and Sexton though.

P_1

Interesting point.

Are today's boots giving players too much grip I wonder? I see where you're coming from WRT the boots trapping players legs and causing injuries b not giving their feet anywhere to go

awec

With these synthetic pitches too the rule always is no metal studs / blades as they can tear the surface. Certainly that's my experience from playing football on a few of them.

Eoin

My old physio was convinced that blades were to blame for the increase in knee and ankle injuries that he treated.

locum-motion

seanm92 wrote: »

Blades are every bit as dangerous as studs IMO. ...

The point I was trying to make is that I think they're MORE dangerous.

Morf

locum-motion wrote: »

so I was wondering does anyone know if either of the lads were wearing this type of boot when they got injured.

Tommy Bowe was wearing regular 6 stud boots when it occurred. Blades had nothing to do with it.

Losty Dublin

Law 4 covers what are and are not allowed within the game. Blades are allowed subect to they not having any sharp edges or rims on the boot or sole. This link gives it all in technical and scientific glory; they do amend and test boots from time to time so if blades can be soundly linked to recurring injuries then they will be examined.

http://www.irb.com/mm/document/lawsregs/0/060924gfirbregulation12_879.pdf

Certainly, when I am refereeing and I see players rmissing studs or wearing blades or short studs and playing in the front five I will suggest they wear better boots in future. I cancelled a colleges game once when most players from one team turned up with unstudded footwear; it was a risk that I as a referee was not willing to expose players to.

Dravokivich

Glancing at the stills during Bowe's show, I though he had rolled over his ankle as well now?

Theta

You cant really buy metal blade boots anymore (well i havent seen any for a long long time) they only do plastic "blades" these days which aren't really blades.

Didnt the GAA look into it and found an increased number of ACL injuries in players wearing "blades"?

Bolger made the remarks in the context of the rising numbers of cruciate ligament injuries and cited a project at last year’s Young Scientist Exhibition, which had circulated questionnaires to schools, GAA and soccer clubs and physiotherapy practices.

Responses indicated that a majority of injuries and especially knee injuries had arisen in the case of players wearing blades on the soles of their boot

I normally wear Adizeros or something with a similar stud configuration

locum-motion

Theta wrote: »

You cant really buy metal blade boots anymore (well i havent seen any for a long long time) they only do plastic "blades" these days which aren't really blades...

TBH, I never knew there was ever such a thing as a metal blade. The blades I'm referring to in my OP are plastic.

Anyway, my Q has now been 1/2 answered, in that someone said TB wasn't using blades at the time of his injury.

Now, does anyone know about JS?


ps I found this BBC story from 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_utd/4166188.stm

Morf

Johnny Sexton would have been wearing similar studs to the photo above.

P_1

Is the problem caused by players having too much grip I wonder?