It wasn’t that long ago that seeing a player wearing a pair of white football boots was something of a rarity.
Indeed, the names of Alan ‘Gladys’ Hinton and Alan Ball are still talked about today after they famously donned white boots over 30 years ago. Take a look at Hinton’s entry in Wikipedia and the second sentence reads: He famously wore white boots. Bearing in mind that he had a 17 year long career and played for England three times, scoring once, that pretty much sums up the impact his footwear had at the time.
But now, white football boots seem to be all the rage – certainly if you check out the choices of the England team that played Slovenia at the weekend.
Of course, over recent months, England have always had a few players for whom white football boots were the norm. Captain John Terry has worn the England Speciali and the Speciali in White / Red. Frank, Frank Lampard is rarely seen without his trusty pair of adidas adiPure II Rome’s and Glen Johnson, Lotto’s biggest name player in the UK, is a familiar sight in his White / Black / Red Zhero Leggenda Tre’s.
Now, perhaps it’s something to do with the all white, Umbro kit but Terry, Lampard and Johnson were joined at Wembley by a whole clutch of their team-mates who decided that white was right.
Shaun Wright-Phillips took to the field wearing a pair of White /Black / Red adidas F50i’s, a decision that was replicated by second half substitute and goalscorer Jermain Defoe.
As the other substitutes came on, so the number of white football boots increased. Carlton Cole arrived in a pair of Nike Tiempo Air legend II’s in White / White (and you don’t get much whiter than that), while midfielder Michael Carrick strutted his stuff in the White / Black PUMA King XL’s.
Seven players out of the squad in white football boots is a decent number, and with a bit of poetic licence, you could increase that number to nine by including Ashley Cole in his White / Blue PUMA v1.08’s and Joleon Lescott in his White / Red Nike Total 90 Laser II’s.
So, out of that lot, what’s your choice of the best white football boot out of the current crop as modelled by England’s finest?
Let us know by commenting below.
well, just makes sense aesthetically….white boots look great with a white uniform.
just so happens most white boots always tend to have either red or blue accents (besides black) which goes with the crest.
yes , looks good with the white kit..
i don’t understand the admiration on that, it’s normal, if they play with white kits the white boots just seem to be the ones that fit in very good 🙂 i do the same xb
Sad really;
I suppose as long as Stevie G does not do it, wot do i care, and incidentally, BLACK boots look even better with a white kit, a nice sharp contrast…..
i disagree sixstud,
although the second best choice in my opinion and much better than say, citron or pink or orange boots, black boots create visual discontinuity with an all white kit. maybe if the shorts were black…
but what do i know, im just a graphic designer ;p
That you might be, but as i stated in previous posts, i prefer tradition, and for me it is black boots.
Then again, what do i know, i am just a former pro and full-time coach in Canada?
thats great you a former pro and coach, but since we are discussing aesthetics (ie your statement “BLACK boots look even better with a white kit”) i dont see what that has to do with what looks better with a white kit.
im saying white boots look better with a white kit, and my reason is visual continuity. cohesiveness. black boots with an all white kit look off.
if we are talking coaching and on-field strategy, you certainly have the edge. but aesthetics and color theory are my bread and butter 😉
but hey, to each their own.
that umbro speciali has the nike sole plate, and the prototype of the laser III has similitude with the umbro sx valor ultra
I remember the England team went with the blue-coloured boots in the 2006 WC. and obviously with all white kit, white or silver boot is the best choice aesthetically
I think Fab put in a team rule that players may wear either white and black bases boots. I dont recall anybody wearing anything not black or white since the new kits were unveiled. They can do colored-accents on the boots but they have all worn boots that are primarily white or black.