[Kit] Are football studs now specifically outlawed?

[TheBFG]

BFG, Reg 12 describes a reference stud, and these are manufactured and available to purchase. However it permits other stud shapes as long as they perform at least as well as the reference stud in the various tests. Now, I am not able to carry out these tests and to be honest I do think that the RFU clarification is helpful. However it is up to you to decide what you consider to be dangerous. I doubt that Nike would consider their boots to be dangerous - they are after all designed for a game where contact with players unprotected skin is a foreseeable occurrence. It would be helpful if Nike were to make a statement about these studs, but I doubt they will.

The main problem with the Nike studs (but as I found out on Saturday, Adidas also have them) is that they are too narrow at the point, with regards to the other requirements, you're quite right, no idea if they meet them, but by simple visual inspection you can see they're too narrow and that's good enough for me.

3 Players on Saturday with illegal studs and all were changed.

And of course the Nike/Adidas boots are designed for wendyball, where I believe there are no regulations on studs.

 

[Pinky]

Back in the day when you had to have IRB (kite marked) plain aluminium studs, checking they were Reg 12 compliant was fairly easy. However Adidas complained to the IRB that Preditor blades were unfairly discriminated against and (I believe) in the face of this challenge, the IRB changed its stance. I believe that Adidas is of the view that all their boots comply with Reg 12 - but they do not say this as clearly as that, but most models do have a rugby version these days that is nearly identical. And we know that the IRB allowed the offset 7 stud FF80 to be trialled. Nike have never been quite as vocal in challenging the IRB, and of course Caterbury confused things by making two-part studs on rugby boots. As a matter of management, I just look for boots that are worn/broken or with sharp or burred etc studs/soles.

 

[TheBFG]

these are the ones I came across on Saturday

 

[Nigib]

these are the ones I came across on Saturday

View attachment 3460

Looks like the ones I asked to be changed. The rear studs in particular come to almost a point. The player reverted to his old boots - I'd asked him to simply change the studs.

 

[Deafbok]

Meh. This raises another thing for me to consider when I get replacements for my Adizeros.

It seems blades are fading away a bit from the market. My first three pairs of boots were all blades - including the Predator, which I got given as a gift when my folks realised how seriously I was taking my rugby - and so I've got a soft spot for them.

After having played a match where a teammate got stabbed by a shard of a broken bottle either in or after a maul, I'm somewhat pedantic about everything from pitch inspections to boot checks. Like many above, my take is more just to make sure there's nothing obvious whilst fighting off the nagging feeling that I'm missing the regs.

To go off on a tangent, any issues with the Predator Incurza or Crazyquick Malice from Adidas? Given that there were issues with the Ace-15s I feel it's worth asking, especially as I don't want to drop R2500 on either model only to be told it's noncompliant. For further clarification, I typically play at a semi-pro club level apart from my Deaf International commitments (If we had sponsors, this might not even be an issue, but c'est la vie!)