Nike has released its most innovative and lightweight football boot ever: the Nike Mercurial SL.

Background

The product brief for the Nike Super Light (SL) was to create a football boot with no design or financial limitations. Taking money, time and manufacturing considerations out of the equation, Nike set about producing the lightest, fastest football boot possible.

The Nike SL weighs only 190 grams and is made almost entirely of carbon fibre. Something which, until this point, had never been done before. The Nike SL is being marketed as the football boot brand’s most lightweight, most highly responsive yet flexible and strong football boot to date. A football boot featuring only what’s needed without giving up any performance.

Initially designed in the style of a concept car: to lead innovation, to drive new ideas, to push the boundaries in design and engineering, the development process for the Nike SL took 3 years, spanning four continents.

The Nike SL has been specifically designed to cater for the fastest football players, and as such will be primarily sported by Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo. As a limited edition football boot, it is likely to become one of the most sought after football boots on the market. Only 2000 pairs of the Nike SL have been produced and each pair will set you back a cool 400 euros.

Plate

For the plate, Nike worked with a partner in Germany to create a 7 layer carbon composite material interwoven with TPU and polyurethane to maximize the material. With no lasting board, the structure is in the plate itself. The construction gives the player torsional stability to offer greater propulsion across the field. The foot is closer to the ground, giving players a smooth ride. A reinforcing rib adds support to the foot, increasing impact resistance and preventing reverse bending during a hard toe kick. The carbon fibre is woven together at angles to provide the most flexible, lightweight, foot-fitting support without sacrificing strength.

In Korea, cleats and stud tips were injection moulded on to the plate, creating a single outsole piece. The traction of the cleat is built for a fast athlete, allowing for quick acceleration across the field with or without the ball. The Nike SL has a minimized heel bucket keeping the heel in place.

Upper

In Montebelluna, Italy, at Nike’s Research Centre, engineers created a new process enabling them to mould the carbon fibre into a soft performance upper for the football boot.

The black aesthetic of the football boot is dictated by the colour of the carbon fibre. The pink Swoosh is the only added element. “It invites you to take a closer look so you’ll see the detail and the beauty of the football boot” explains Nike designer, Peter Hudson.

He goes on to say: “With the Mercurial SL, we’ve truly delivered on a promise - as a lightweight, high performance football boot for acceleration, the Mercurial SL sets a new standard not only for football performance, but as a conceptual product without limits - a product based entirely on a vision. We created a new design and aesthetic vernacular for football.”

Players: Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo

Price: 400 Euros
Release: TBC

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Sheffield FC, the World’s oldest football club has joined forces with Sheffield Utd FC to collect 2007 pairs of football boots to send to disadvantaged children in South Africa.

The ‘Boots for Africa’ campaign was launched after Sheffield FC Chairman Richard Timms visited South Africa and noticed that many children were playing football in their bare feet without football boots. “All our junior sections at the end of the season grow out of their football boots so I thought a scheme where they could donate them to Children in South Africa would be a good way of celebrating Sheffield FC’s 150th anniversary,” he said.

Ex Arsenal and England footballer and current Portsmouth Assistant Manager Tony Adams, has given his support to the campaign by donating a pair of his old football boots. I’ve gone from my garage this morning and got some dusty old boots out for campaign.”

Any size of football boots is accepted, as long as they are paired up, cleaned and tied. Details on where to send the football boots to can be found by calling 0114 267 54 44.

Football boot giant Nike has extended its contract with the Korean Football Association (KFA), signing a four-year, 25 billion won ($27 million) deal for the rights to supply the national team’s football kit.

Under the new contract, which goes into effect next year, Nike will also provide 24 billion won worth in sporting products and allow national team players to use cleats from other football boot brands, the KFA said. Nike had previously paid the KFA a total of 15 billion won ($16.3 million) for a five-year contract that expires at the end of this year.

Adidas, which competed with Nike to supply the Korean national team football shirts, had offered a four-year deal worth 29.3 billion won. However, as revealed in a previous Footy Boots article, KFA officials were reluctant to sign with the German football boot brand over fears that Nike might pursue legal action against the Korean football body over sponsorship violations if it failed win a new contract.

Meanwhile in other football shirt news, the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) has extended its kit supply deal with football boot brand Adidas through to 2012.

Adidas supplies all of the Greek national teams, including the senior squad that won Euro 2004 and has recently qualified for the 2008 finals.

“The extension of our sponsorship deal with the Hellenic Football Federation confirms a long-term and successful partnership which started in 2004. The partnership is a natural alliance between the number one football brand and the 2004 European champions,” said Herbert Hainer, Chairman and CEO of the adidas Group.

“With the tremendous success at Euro 2004 in Portugal, the Greek national football team has clearly proven that sport is about achieving the impossible. We are proud to have adidas as our official partner and our primary objective will remain to enhance and build a long and dynamic partnership for the forthcoming years,” said HFF president Vassilios Gagatsis.

Nike has launched its new NikeFive range of football boots and apparel specific to the needs of the five-a-side game.

Five-a-side football is played on all kinds of surfaces, having its own skills and demands. Game space per player is four times smaller than 11-a-side, whilst game speed can be up to four times faster. Nike has developed a range of football boots and clothing to cater for the five-a-side game, allowing players to play with speed, flexibility and comfort.

Football Boots

The NikeFive football boot range includes both outdoor (Air Zoom Control II) and indoor (Air Zoom Control II Futsal) footwear to allow five-a-side footballers the best control at speed whilst providing maximum comfort and flexibility. The football boots are lightweight allowing for 360 degree ball touch and front to back flexibility when twisting and turning in limited pitch space.

Both football boots also offer outstanding traction to help players cope with the speed of five-a-side. The Air Zoom Control II, with front to back stud design, is ideal for outdoor surfaces and the Air Zoom Control II Futsal has a low-profile front to back suctioned sole for grip on indoor surfaces.

Ball

The Rolinho Principal Parquet is a laminate finished ball specifically designed for indoor tricks on parquet surfaces with a blue and white design providing optimum visual contrast indoors. The ball is smaller and slightly heavier than conventional 11-a-side balls with low bounce, encouraging higher skill levels and ball control.

Apparel

Nike has introduced NikeFive apparel, customised specifically for the intense five-a-side environment. The dri-fit fibres wipe away sweat from the skin, keeping the fabric lightweight and encouraging movement. The kit is available in a wide array of bright colours and graphics, helping to enhance visibility in fast tempo games. The sleeveless football shirts are reversible for colour adaptability.

Gloves

The NikeFive Futsal goal keeping glove incorporates abrasion-resistant padding on the side of the hand for protection on hard courts. The fingerless gloves are constructed with a 3 mm super soft latex palm with padded zones for enhanced grip and impact protection. Combined with a wraparound wristband, the gloves provide a secure, safe hands feel.

Nike spokesperson Leo Sandino Taylor commented: “Five-a-side is a fast paced game, in which events develop very quickly so it is important that players are given the best technology they need to perform. We feel the NikeFive range is ideal for the five-a-side footballer.”

Click here to buy NikeFive products in the Footy Boots Shop!

Adidas has unveiled the “wawa aba” as the official match ball for the 2008 African Cup of Nations

At the draw for the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana, football boot brand Adidas has unveiled the tournament’s official match ball, the “wawa aba”.

The Adidas “wawa aba” has been designed to combine tradition and innovation, and incorporates exceptionally strong colouring. The red/yellow/green colour way is derived from the national flag of the African Cup of Nations host nation, Ghana. The football also symbolises both historical and cultural elements of Africa. For the Akan culture originating from Western Africa, the name “wawa aba” is a symbol of persistence. People there particularly believe in the strength and team spirit of a community. The wawa aba is the seed of the wawa tree, one of the strongest and usable woods in Africa.

The ball is made of 14 panels produced with revolutionary thermo bonding technology. Its flight features have perfect characteristics which enable players to optimally control the ball and shoot with incredible precision.

Erich Stamminger, President and CEO of the Adidas brand commented: “In recent years, football in Africa experienced outstanding growth and the Africa Cup has become one of the most important continental championships worldwide. Therefore, we are pleased that the African Cup of Nations is now also played with a specially designed Adidas ball. This impressively underlines our position as the number one football brand on all continents.”

Adidas is the official match ball supplier for the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

In this week’s column, Giles talks about his long awaited return from injury.

Hi everyone, welcome back to my Coke Column!

On Tuesday I played my first game following my knee injury. It seems pretty strange to think that I played my last game back in January, ten months ago!

We played a reserve game against Southend and I played about 60 minutes. Training is great but what is really important is playing games and getting my match fitness back. I thought I did ok for my first game in ten months. I made a few mistakes and I was blowing a bit at the end but to be honest the main thing was to get through the game injury free. All in all it was a good workout and hopefully after a couple more games I can be in the first team reckoning. We’re doing well at the moment at home, I think that if we can start picking up a few more points away from home we can really start to move up the table.

All my family, friends, agent and everyone at the club have been great support over the last few months and I appreciate all the help they’ve given me. Some players can go their whole career without picking up a serious injury and hopefully I’ve had my bad one now at an early age and got it out the way!

My family often come to see me play. It’s great to know they’re in the stands cheering me on. My brother Jon actually plays as well. He is a Centre Half playing for Kingstonian, one of my old clubs. It’s difficult to go and watch him play as much as I’d like as we obviously play at the same time but I’ve been able to go down and support him on occasions. I’ve also popped back to see Mansfield Town a few times. Hopefully they can drag themselves up the League Two table. As one of my former clubs, I look out for their results and still keep in touch with some of the lads at Field Mill.

Your Questions:

What do you get upto in your spare time? From Chris

Most of my time outside of football is taken up spending time with my young daughter. I also enjoy listening to R&B and Hip Hop music. Like most footballers I like playing on computer consoles, I’m a big fan of Pro Evolution Soccer on the Playstation 2 and I also play Football Manager on the PC.

Hopefully I’ll be nearing full fitness when I next speak to you. See you in two weeks!

Leading sportswear company Nike has agreed a £285 million takeover bid to buy English football boot brand Umbro.

Nike has offered 195p per share for England’s official football shirt supplier, and with Umbro shares closing at 165p last night, the offer was recommended to the Umbro board. The offer places a premium of around 61% over the Cheshire based company’s share price before takeover interest emerged.

Steve Makin, chief executive of Umbro, said: “This is an excellent deal for all our stakeholders: it provides great value for shareholders and exciting prospects for our colleagues, partners and customers around the world. We will be a stronger and better business as part of Nike and this deal will allow us to accelerate our existing growth strategy by leveraging Nike’s global resources and expertise.”

Umbro has been facing a challenging time of late, with poor sales of England football shirts being blamed on poor England performances. Furthermore, following last week’s 2-1 defeat to Russia, analysts predicted that Umbro profits could fall by more than 40% next year should England fail to qualify for Euro 2008. Despite the recent woes of Steve McClaren’s team the white England football shirt remains the bestselling replica kit worldwide.

Brian Barwick, the chief executive of the FA, said: “We are delighted that the proposed acquisition will allow us to continue our strong historical relationship with Umbro while benefiting from the marketing expertise and financial strength of Nike. Nike has provided firm assurances that the FA relationship with Umbro will be protected and enhanced, and we look forward to working closely with both companies moving forward.”

Nike is expected to retain Umbro’s management team, however Nigel Doughty, the private equity boss and Nottingham Forest owner who has been chairman of Umbro since 1999, is expected to leave. He would receive more than £7 million for his 2.53 per cent stake.

Only last week, JJB Sports, increased its stake in Umbro to 10%, with Sports Direct, owned by Newcastle United’s Mike Ashley upping its shares to 15%. Both JJB and Sports Direct were initially expected to bid against Nike, who itself is a leading supplier for the retail outfits.

Nike’s aggressive expansion in the football market falls in line with its brand vision to become the world’s leading football brand by 2010, with a Nike spokesperson adding that the Umbro deal would allow it to “significantly expand” its presence in “a key growth category” for the firm.

With its takeover of Umbro, Nike will gain a huge foothold in the Premier League, representing players such as Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres, and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as Umbro’s England internationals John Terry and Michael Owen. Indeed, Nike and Umbro are football shirt suppliers to ten of the twenty Premiership teams; Arsenal, Aston Villa, Fulham, Man Utd, (Nike) and Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Sunderland, West Ham, Wigan (Umbro).

Text BOOTS to 81066 to sign up to the Footy-Boots.com Monthly Text Messaging Service for your chance to win November’s prize of a pair of Errea Prima Top Football Boot! (Terms and conditions apply)

Errea Prima Top Football Boot Review

Italian sportswear manufacturer Errea, was founded in 1988 in Parma, Northern Italy. Although Errea is well known in the UK for supplying football kits to the likes of Middlesbrough, Brighton, and Burnley, the sports brand also produces a range of football boots and has an agreement in place for the Middlesbrough FC Academy players to wear Errea football boots. In 2005, Errea Sport was established in the UK to spearhead a major expansion of the brand and begin its foray into the domestic football boot market.

Errea Prima Top

The Errea Prima Top is a available in a traditional clean black colour and features a water-resistant full grain kangaroo skin upper. The upper includes full nylon lining, stretch proof side stitching and reinforced internal side panels.

An Androform inner sole is patented with Errea’s Antishock Technology system, with a texon insole. The Prima Top is available in both a six super-light screw-on stud soft ground option and a twelve moulded stud firm ground configuration.

At a retail price of £84.99, the Prima Top is Errea’s leading football boot, and it also caters for a wider foot than that of Errea’s other top end boot, the Super Top. Available up to a size 13, the football boot will also suit footballers with larger feet.

Colourway: Black
Size: 4 - 13
RRP: £84.99

Remember to Text BOOTS to 81066 for your chance to win a pair of Errea Prima Top football boots!

Leading sportswear manufacturer Nike is poised to launch a takeover bid for fellow football boot brand Umbro.

The US sportswear giant is currently in talks with the Cheshire based football boot brand which could lead to a £220 million offer to buy the England football kit supplier.

Shares in Umbro soared nearly 28 percent after it revealed that it had received a takeover approach, just 24 hours after Sports Direct and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley raised his Umbro stake to 15 per cent.

In a statement, the football boot supplier to Michael Owen said: “In response to recent speculation, the board of Umbro confirms that it has received an approach which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the entire issued share capital of Umbro.”

Umbro last month issued a stark profit warning following poor sales of England football shirts, with analysts indicating Umbro’s profits could fall by 40 per cent next year if England ultimately fail to qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament. It therefore seems strange that news of the bid came less than 24 hours after England’s 2-1 loss to Russia which leaves them relying on other results going their way in order to qualify for Euro 2008. Perhaps potential suitors realise that with profits falling, now may be the time for Umbro to sell.

John Stevenson, analyst at Shore Capital, said that any bidder would have to renegotiate Umbro’s current deal with the England team. However, he added: “On the positive front Umbro offers strong medium and long term earnings growth potential from its growing international presence.”

An acquisiton of Umbro would fit in with Nike’s aim of becoming the leading global football brand by the time of the 2010 World Cup. Nike announced “an aggressive growth strategy” for football last November, having developed its football sales from virtually zero a decade ago to $1.5bn.

Since Adidas’ purchase of Reebok in 2005, the football boot and sportswear market has consolidated. Adidas is currently the subject of takeover speculation itself, and Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard’s football boot sponsors are understood to have decided against a bid for Umbro, concentrating on improving the operating performance of its main Adidas and Reebok brands. French retailer PPR, meanwhile, has built up a large stake in German football boot brand Puma.

A successful takeover by Nike would give the football boot brand a huge presence in the Premiership, where it already supplies football shirts to Arsenal and Manchester United among others. Umbro supplies six Premiership teams including Birmingham and West Ham. Furthermore, it would bring together the likes of Barcelona duo Ronaldinho (Nike R10 Tiempo) and Deco (Umbro Ultra SX), as well as England striking partners Michael Owen (Umbro X Boot III) and Wayne Rooney (Nike Total 90 Laser).

Following Adidas and Nike’s sponsorship battle over the Germany football kit, South Korea is the latest sparring ground between the two leading football boot brands, as they compete for the rights to supply the national team’s football kit.

South Korea are currently sponsored by Nike, with Korea Football Association (KFA)’s labour union recently accusing the football body for its alleged favoritism towards the football boot brand.

Union leader, Kim Jung-Hoon, who has called the KFA’s current deal with Nike “a slave contract,” has threatened resistance should the bidding be managed unfairly. “There are suspicions that KFA executives are leaning toward a certain company, instead of keeping the competition clean and fair. The KFA seems intent on granting Nike the exclusive rights and has been effectively blocking other companies from joining the bid,” Kim said.

The KFA maintains that a bidding war doesn’t even exist at this point. Nike, which has sponsored the South Korean football squad for the past 12 years, is enjoying status as a preferred bidder, meaning that the football association will not negotiate with another company unless talks fall through.

Nike currently pay the KFA a total of 15 billion won ($16.3 million) over a five-year contract that expires at the end of 2007. The football boot brand have already opened discussions over a contract renewal which would net the KFA 20 billion won over a four year period. The KFA have however turned down Nike’s initial offer and asked for a four-year deal worth 25 billion won.

Adidas, meanwhile, has already promised a four-year football shirt sponsorship deal worth around 29.3 billion won. However if Nike agree on the 25 billion won deal, the Adidas offer will be cleared from the table.

Union officials suspect the KFA is being held to ransom by Nike due to the “blackout option” in past deals. The option called for national team players to erase the logos on their football boots with black markers if they were not Nike boots. According to Kim, there have been more than 100 violations of this clause in the past five years, and the amount of annual fines could be more than the 3 billion won the KFA gets from Nike every year.

Kim suspects that should Nike fail to resign with the KFA, it could threaten to sue the football body over the sponsorship violations. “The blackout option is basically why we call the past deal a slave contract. Conventionally, football shirt sponsorship deals don’t include the football boots chosen by players,” Kim said.

The KFA have played down the whole saga, however, they are believed to have demanded that Nike lift the blackout clause from the new deal.

Outspoken football manager Ian Holloway has come to the aid of Sunday morning managers across the land by sharing his legendary team talks online.

The Plymouth Argyle boss has taken time out of his busy schedule to outline his half-time words of wisdom for virtually every matchday scenario.

There are nine different half-time scenarios to choose from: being three nil down and not being able to pass water to going five goals ahead and playing like Brazil; to playing your local deadly rivals to dealing with having your captain and star player sent off.

The idea behind the 90-second video clips is to help teams and managers all over the country rally their players at half-time utilising some of Ian’s animated anecdotes.

‘Ollie’ also gives team talks on dealing with extra-time and the dreaded penalty shoot-out along with a Cup-Final special - there is an inspiring team talk for every occasion.

Click here to view Ian Holloway’s team talk secrets!

Today signals your last chance to vote in the 2007 Football Boot Awards, and also our final category review - Most Innovative Football Boot

The Adidas F50 Tunit 2 demonstrates innovation in the provision of different chassis to allow each player to tune their football boots depending on the weather, pitch conditions, or their own personal style. The ‘Pro Lite’ set up is favoured by many players, offering them increased speed and agility by reducing the overall weight of the boot. The lightweight synthetic climacool upper combined with the comfort chassis gives you a football boot with added breathability, comfort and superior touch.

The Hummel 8.4 Pio FGX was apparently inspired by luxury fashion goods, Danish modern furniture, and graphic print wallpaper! Could this be classed as innovative? We certainly can’t think of many football boot design’s based on wallpaper! A unique feature of the Hummel nominated football boot is its hmlFIT Customised Fit Technology heat mouldable sockliner. This allows the wearer a customised fit, producing maximum surface contact with the foot, ensuring fewer pressure points, and improved performance and control.

The Lotto Zhero Gravity was developed with innovation at the forefront of the design process. As the first lace free football boot on the market, the Lotto Zhero Gravity took three years to develop, with a 1 million pound investment! ‘Project Zhero’ has adopted extreme technology to create a football boot made for speed, comfort and agility and which provides excellent shooting precision and close sensitivity for control. The upper is made of water-repellent microfibre and thanks to the exclusive Pro-Fit technology, the boots guarantee a perfect wrapping of the foot. The external heel counter in Pebax provides greater stability, while the Dual Fit System, a double set of removable insoles, allows a personalized fit. The innovative Neo Switch sole is a new concept of fixed and interchangeable studs.

The Mitre Vortex Pro boasts waterproof vents and has the smallest low cut chassis making it one of the lightest and most breathable football boots on the market. Asymmetric micro lacing and a breather tongue further enhances the boot’s credentials. The external heel unit is made from Thermal Plastic Urethane (TPU) for extra stability and a shock impact insole gives good foot to ground comfort.

Cutting-edge technology is fused with unique design to produce the Mizuno Wave Shinken football boots. Mizuno use the latest software to analyse and design their products with the Wave Shinken featuring a Bio-Panel which is made up of individually shaped pads, that offers the player greater ball traction, speed and control. Mizuno’s wave technology in the heel allows for optimum cushioning and stability, whilst the removable sock liner also increases the cushioning effects. The kangaroo skin upper features asymmetric lacing, with a handy flip over tongue which allows the laces to be hidden away.

The innovation in Nike’s Total 90 Laser is seen in the design of a ’sweet spot’, maximising shooting and passing accuracy through precision rings which control ball spin and trajectory. The rings have been sectioned to help add more aggressive contact to the ball, enabling the player to add height and swerve to the ball as desired. The waterproof eVent fabric allows improved breathability, whilst maintaining a constant temperature in the football boot.

The Nomis Glove promotes highly advanced technological innovation in its ‘Wet’ and ‘Dry Control’ and ‘No Mud Technology’ systems. Handling the Nomis Glove, the K leather is remarkably soft, but also feels ’sticky’. The football boot is lightweight and the ‘Wet’ and ‘Dry Control’ systems help to create superior ball grip in both wet and dry conditions, providing better control, power, swerve, and performance. The ‘No Mud Technology’ is reported to reduce mud sticking to the outsole by up to 70%, and in our tests it certainly impressed. The Control Technology also leads to very low water absorbtion in the leather, resulting in lighter boots and drier feet in wet conditions.

‘Innovation’ could be one of the strap words for the Prior 2 Lever Assassin. As the world’s first fully customised football boot, the design process for each pair of Assassins makes use of the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) system allowing very precise individual designs to be made for both the left and right foot. Studs may be moved and placed, intrinsic structures built to dissipate peak forces, heel raises added, changing in fit from left to right foot, as well as providing different outsoles at the same time.

The Puma v.106 uses its last and lace wrap system to mould the upper to the contours of your foot. The weight is reduced by the insertion carbon fibre plate, whilst adding improved pressure distribution. The outsole integrates with the anatomical stud positioning and pointed soft ground studs, designed to offer the best grip, manoeuvrability and rear foot stability. If control is paramount, then the thin upper offers a great deal of feel.

The Umbro X Boot III boasts Touch Control Technology, powered by proven Michelin performance with Umbro’s enhanced Motion Control Sprint Last. In addition, its wishbone technology, enhanced with titanium construction allows for a football boot providing superior support and strength. Studies at Liverpool John Moores University showed that the Umbro X Boot III football boot provides 90% better grip than the competition in lightly damp conditions across a range of ball speeds. In addition, the Umbro X Boot III football boot gives 9% better grip in dry conditions. Overall, the tests showed that the football boot achieved better grip results than its rivals at every speed and every condition.

Remember if you haven’t voted already, today is your last chance to vote for your favourite football boots and to give yourself a chance of winning the top prize of a signed pair of John Terry Umbro X Boot Destroyer’s and a runner up prize of a pair of football boots each season for the next five seasons!

Law makers in the U.S state of California are looking at overturning the ban on the sale of kangaroo leather, providing a major boost for american soccer players, allowing them to purchase football boots, made from the material.

A ban on the importation and sale of kangaroo leather has been in place in California since 1970, and the sale of k-leather football boots in the state can be punishable by a six month spell in prison. But currently a debate is raging on the sale of kangaroo products, which feature widely in many football boots.

Jackie Cruz, a 20 year old semi-pro soccer player in San Francisco, adores her k-leather football boots. “I definitely do love the kangaroo leather,” said Cruz, touching the glove-soft kangaroo leather on a Nike Air Legend at a sports store here. “When I wear them, it feels like it’s my own foot. I have more ball control.”

The California ban on the sale of kangaroo skins, meat and other products began when animal rights groups launched an emotional campaign depicting the killing of kangaroos and their baby joeys in Australia.

According to the Australian government, however, the population of red, eastern grey and western grey kangaroos has rebounded significantly and in 2005 stood at 25 million, with many people in Australia considering the kangaroos’ large population a nuisance.

A spokeswoman for Adidas America, who attempted to have the ban lifted in 2005 to allow the sale of products of non endangered kangaroo species, stated that “less than 1 percent of its U.S. footwear sales involve kangaroo leather.”

Kangaroo skin is worn by many footballers throughout the world, one of the most instantly recognisable having been England international David Beckham. After a multiyear campaign by Viva! Vegetarian International Voice for Animals to get the LA Galaxy player to stop wearing kangaroo leather Adidas Predators, Beckham now wears a synthetic version of the Adidas Predator Absolute Globe.

This may have been a small victory for animal-rights activists, however the ban against selling kangaroo leather football boots in California appears to have been poorly enforced for decades. At the Soccer Post, an equipment store in Alameda, owner Tom Matson said he sells more Adidas Copa Mundial kangaroo leather football boots for adults than all his other adult football boots combined. He said the move to keep the ban on kangaroo leather had more to do with the emotional appeal of kangaroos.