A properly nerdy column this week for the Irish Times (Weds. May 13th, 2015). Chatted to Jamie Cudmore about his NFL cleats and set out a few words on some dangerous, pointy little Nike studs that have crept into the game.

Clermont lock Jamie Cudmore drew some attention in the build-up to the European Rugby Champions Cup final for his choice of footwear. Laced high above the ankle and tiger-striped in black and gold, even in today’s neon-booted world these cleats stood out as something quite different.

“The boots are actually an American Football model,” Cudmore told The Irish Times.

“I tried them out a few times – they looked a bit ridiculous and I got a few laughs around the training shed – but to be honest, they’re outstanding. They’re super light and they’ve got a great stud pattern, which really helps me in all positions – pushing in the scrums and mauls and what have you.”

It’s an odd beast, the ‘Under Armour Highlight’….

You can read more here: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/rugby-analysis-dangerous-soccer-studs-creeping-into-game-1.2209671

Flashback time…

I first wrote about the return of the single front stud to rugby back in 2012. The IRB (now World Rugby) had decided to grant Adidas leave to develop and sell a rugby boot with a toe stud. There would be one configuration permitted in the trial, as in the diagram below.

The trial sole configuration that had been put forward by Adidas to the IRB, who granted its trial. Note the offset nature of the toe stud.

At that stage we hadn’t seen the boots yet, only a drawing. The FF80 was launched the following spring and various Six Nations stars were seen in it immediately. I wrote about that too.

That’s how marketing works – get the big names wearing your boots, have the boots on the shelves ready to be bought. Open the door and let the cash roll in.

The Mystery Report That Brought The Toe Stud Back To Rugby

Way back when I first looked into this I’d asked the IRB and Adidas for a copy of the initial report that Adidas had submitted requesting the trial of the new configuration.

I’ve asked for it since. Even just for background purposes.

I asked Adidas for it again just last week. No dice.

Two and a half years later we’re still no wiser as to what might, or might not, have been in that report; a document that persuaded the IRB to row back on a decades-old ban on the toe stud.

One side-effect of the toe stud being given the green light in any form is that NFL cleats, which traditionally have that feature, are now rugby-legal. Considering that the USA is a growth area for the game, this will make life easier for aspiring rugby players on that side of the pond. And it opens up a whole new line of footwear for rugby players around the world, players like Jamie Cudmore.

Toe Stud Trial Deemed Successful

Both World Rugby and Adidas have said that the trial of the FF80 raised no issues concerning player safety. And World Rugby has finally removed the line “There shall not be a single stud/cleat at the toe of the boot” from Regulation 12.

The offset nature of the toe stud on the FF80 had always piqued my interest. It was very obviously placed towards the big toe side of the foot – was it this configuration alone that would be given World Rugby’s blessing?

It seems not.

With the FF80’s trial concluded and deemed a success by World Rugby, rugby union’s governing body has removed all restrictions on stud configuration. Yep. From now on, any stud configuration is legal in rugby unless expressly prohibited somewhere in rugby Regulation or Law.ⁱ

This is an Under Armour soleplate. It’s from their “Nitro” american football boot, with a toe stud somewhat more pronounced than in the original Adidas trial.

The soleplate with detachable studs of an Under Armour “Nitro” cleat. Available from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Under-Armour-Nitro-Detachable-Cleats/dp/B00M3CUNSC)

The “Highlight” cleat, as worn by Cudmore, is usually sold with a multi-studded soleplate. NFL stars Cam Newton and Eddie Lacy (below) wear the boot, among others.

Cudmore said he needed more traction than that, hence he uses a Highlight that includes the Nitro soleplate above. Under Armour’s head of footwear for team sports, Josh Rattet, said that they make a Highlight boot with detachable studs available to their collegiate and pro athletes but not necessarily for retail.

From The Legal To The Not So Legal

While there are no longer any restrictions where the studs might be placed on a boot’s sole, those studs that are there must be legal. Without laws or regulations about configurations, at a pre-match stud check the job of a match official is now a lot simpler: are the studs themselves dangerous?

Sharp edges are one thing, but one might also ask whether the studs themselves are legal in the first place.

Here’s a snapshot from World Rugby’s Regulation 12, the document that sets out such things:

Dimensions of a legal stud. Credit: World Rugby Regulation 12

That’s for rounded, screw in studs. Moulded soles, in the traditional sense of the term, are fine and dandy.

Blades? There was much fuss about blades when they first arrived on the scene but right now they’re legal in rugby union. Hybrid soles too, rightly or wrongly given the shape of some of them.

But a type of stud that is most certainly not legal is that found on Nike soft ground (SG) boots. Designed for soccer, their extreme pointy-ness is somewhat different to the dimensions set out in the Regulation 12 diagram above.

Example soleplate of a Nike hybrid boot. Note the screw-in studs and their narrow tips. Pointy wee blighters.

You don’t need a ruler or a stud gauge to know these things aren’t 10mm at the tipⁱⁱ.

Warnings and Awareness

Unions from all over have sent out warnings to referees about these studs, players too. Sports stores aren’t helping the issue by offering them for sale as rugby boots without telling people the studs aren’t legal.

When Auckland Rugby Union sent out a warning about the studs it included an offer from New Zealand sports outlet Stirling Sports to provide anybody with replacement, legal studs, even to people who’d bought boots from competitors.

Even with those warnings issued they’re still finding their way onto pitches. Professional pitches, both at club and test level.

Boots in a Champions Cup game with those little gold studs

Rugby doesn’t need a Wayne Rooney style injury. Or a Stephen Ireland. So let’s stamp these things out of the game.

Another link to this week’s Irish Times column: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/rugby-analysis-dangerous-soccer-studs-creeping-into-game-1.2209671