Football boots through the ages

It is a trend as routine as any other, for people to believe anything uttered by Morgan Freeman in his God-like voice (Get it? God-like?). However, when he rhetorically questioned the viewers in the 1994 classic ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ “How often do you really look at a man’s shoes?”, the footballer lover/ atheist in me just had to disagree with the Yank and remind him about the world outside the prison that still plays footb- pardon me- soccer, and of our undying craze for the latest boots.

The first known boot, of course, belonged to royalty (Henry VIII to be precise). His boots were pure leather, and certainly the biggest contributing factor in his successful wooing of multiple wives, even if his unsightly paunch made him look like the Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) of the 1500s (I might have smoked this part, but well, you never know…).

“You better like these boots, or else I am going to ban this bloody game!”

Towards the 1800s, when the game became extremely popular among the British masses, the boots remained hard leather, but had metal spikes and caps on them to give the players a distinct advantage (metal studs on boots are illegal in football now). These metal parts made the boots weigh around half a kilogram each, and they could end up weighing twice as much after 90 minutes of muddy warfare on the football pitch.

This made players very miserable indeed, since after a while, the rain soaked pitches resembled a gym designed solely for the quadriceps of the enthusiasts. Of course, nothing matched the displeasure of the wives who had to deal with the mud and grime in the house after said game.

“You better pray THAT comes out of the carpet!”

There weren’t many changes to the design of a boot for a long time after this, and then all the innovation in the field of football boots had to cease, and had to be replaced with a greater focus on military jackboots as the World Wars commenced. It was only after the 2^nd World War, when the Nazi brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler launched Adidas and Puma respectively did people decide to shift their focus on the wars on the pitch, as well as focusing on the rearmament of their football cleats.

Adidas and Puma both lay their claims on being the first company to manufacture boots with rubber or synthetic studs, which gave metal studs-like grip minus the weight and the tetanus. The two behemoths continued fighting out this battle, with new innovation and star endorsers like Pele being roped in. In the meanwhile, other smaller companies had also taken notice of the profits they could possibly reap from this business, and decided to join the bandwagon.

Adidas emerged as the clear winner of this two-horse race, after former footballer Craig Johnston designed the Adidas Predator, which provided greater traction, and allowed footballers to add swerving free kicks and net-tearing penalties to their arsenal. The predator, now into its 13^th series, continues to remain one of the most popular boots among players, with Angel Di Maria, Xabi Alonso, Juan Mata, Fernando Torres, Oscar, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil all subscribing to the Adidas Predator LZ II.

The evolution of the Adidas predator

Although Adidas had outstripped its German competitor, new competition was well on its way in the form of Nike, whose mercurial series became an instant hit with most footballers in the 90s, and its 8^th series continues to remain one of the more popular choices among footballers, with Eden Hazard, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic its proud customers.

Of course, Adidas countered Nike’s extremely light yet rigid mercurial series with their own F50 series, and for good measure, they roped in Lionel Messi to endorse them. After all, which other footballer could rival Cristiano Ronaldo’s brand value? The F50 offers players more speed than strength, and nimble footed players subscribe to these boots very readily.

The newly launched Samba series of the F50 complements the themes of the 2014 Brazil World Cup with its vibrant and colourful models, which seem to go hand in glove with the Samba boys. Most football fans will be squealing in delight (not me, I swear) when they see a blur of red, yellow and blue dashing past them, weaving their way through defenders and scoring for their glory of their nation.

The choice of the Samba boys!

Many influential footballers have gone on to launch their own line of football boots, which sell like hotcakes every single time they come out. Since they are the boots that these footballers wear when they play, and since they are the ones they have added their digital autographs to, it adds a personal touch to them. It makes budding footballers feel like they own a part, and an essential part at that, of their idol.

Lionel Messi’s adiZero miCoach III, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Mercurial Vapor IX and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Nike Dare to Zlatan collection are just some of the many collections that have been a great hit with the fans, simply because they bring us one step (or should I say two boot lengths?) closer to our idols.

Even in India, where the popularity of the sport is yet to touch the heights of cricket, every single footballer-in-the-making yearns for their first boots, and the spoilt brat with the fluorescent orange ones continues to make us feel like the Indian football team of 1950, which was barred from participating in the FIFA World Cup only because they didn’t have the financial backing to afford boots.

Youngsters enthusiastically chat about the creative football boot advertisements by Nike and Adidas while tying the laces of their own Nikes and Adidases, before attempting to mimic the moves their idols perform in the said ads, or in other words, attempting to ‘step into their boots’ (yes, I should be hanged to death).

Football boots are a crucial aspect of the playing styles of many footballers, and continue to influence the game of football far more than any other kind of boot in any other kind of game (Don’t even try to argue the case for Air Jordans). Even though I rarely get enough time to play football, I pray to Morgan Freeman every single night to leave the shiny purple Adidas F50s at my doorstep, just in case a Nazi, Henry VIII lookalike decides to challenge me at the sport. Maybe that is overly optimistic on my part, but I suppose we all, one day, have to #Dare[toZlatan].