Rugby Boots
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Rugby Boots History
The original football boot first comes into records with Henry VIII in 1526 when he called for a pair of leather football boots. However the man in the street would not yet have had this pleasure as both football and rugby boots did not exist in the early days. In the late 1800's players were usually wearing walking, working boots or hobnail boots, which would either come with nails or studs protruding. The sports split into their distinctive games of rugby and soccer and at this time also allowed hacking a players legs as a method of stopping them, so some boots would also have had metal tips to inflict more pain.
In 1889 a law change barred the wearing of projecting nails or iron plates, in 1910 further improvements to enhance safety came when changes specified a cylindrical stud no less than 3/4 inch in diameter and no longer than half the diameter long fixed to the sole by 4 nails. The next change occurred in 1926 when studs had to be leather, circular and fixed by at least 3 nails. Rubber was included in 1948, aluminium in 1953 and approved plastics in 1954. Currently rugby requires an approved rugby boot with studs that carry the IRB marking which can be used for both rugby league and rugby union.
Different boots for different positions
Traditional rugby boots are very similar to football boots, but the thing that makes them different is a high cut designed to give extra support to the ankle. However, more and more players prefer to use football style boots, especially backs, who favour the low cut for extra mobility. So it's important to understand what position you're playing before choosing what kind of rugby boot you want.
