Michael Olise doesn't like shin pads.
So much so that when the French winger was brought on for Leroy Sane in Bayern Munich's 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in November, he wore no clothes at all.
This was spotted by the match's fourth referee, Florin Andrei, who ordered the 23-year-old to wear something. Reluctantly, Olise stuffed some of it into her sock, and when the staff weren't looking, she threw it out again.
Michael Oliseh appeared to have a brief conversation with the fourth official as he prepared to come off the bench for Bayern's Champions League match against PSG.
Moments later, Olise was seen putting his shin guards into his socks, but then he slyly removed his left guard and was thrown off… pic.twitter.com/ep0mqMLG79
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 28, 2024
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) Law of the Game stipulates that all players must wear shin pads. There are no specific rules regarding size, but Article 4 of the Act states that they “must be made of suitable material, of suitable size, and covered with socks to provide adequate protection.”
For years, many soccer players have interpreted the rules to play fast and loose. The low sock and micro shin pad trend, made cool by the likes of Manchester City's Jack Grealish and Chelsea's Lauren James, has become extremely popular in recent years.
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“I don't wear shin guards,” Olise recently told a fan who tried to gift him shoes. However, the PSG incident may have been a one-off, as the 23-year-old was always seen wearing shin guards during matches.
The former Crystal Palace player is not the only professional footballer who would like to play without shin pads if it were up to him.
“I don't really like wearing shin pads. I never wear them in training,” said former Sheffield United striker Oli McBurnie. The Athletic In November. “I wear regular socks because I want to feel like I'm training every day. I cut them up, roll them, and stuff them with a little bit of foam to keep them comfortable.”
Manchester City's Jack Grealish wears the infamous tiny shin pads (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Sam Weller Widdowson is credited with inventing the shin pad in 1874. As well as being a cricketer, he was also a footballer for Nottingham Forest, later becoming chairman of the club and a former England capped player. It is said that Weller Widdowson began cutting up two cricket pads and wearing them to protect himself during soccer matches, and his idea quickly spread.
Shin guards in sports are heavily influenced by greaves, ancient armor made by soldiers dating back to the Bronze Age to protect the shin bones. The shin bone has no protection other than the skin.
It was in 1990 that FIFA (using IFAB legislation) decided that all players must wear shin guards in all matches. Until then, players could choose whether or not to protect their shins and ankles. At the time, shin guards were ungainly and protected both the players' ankles and shins.
Custom made Diadora shin pads made for Francesco Totti in Rome in 2006. Looks completely retro by modern standards (Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images)
They have slimmed down somewhat over the past 30 years. Players can now procure with credit cards. Alternatively, you can source biscuit-sized shin guards if you prefer. The trend is a cause for concern for grassroots football clubs, with some clubs now looking to ban young players from wearing them.
Penistone Church, a team from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, were suspended in August last year after a 15-year-old player named Alfie broke both legs while participating in a challenge wearing miniature shin pads. It became a hot topic for being punished.
“It's not worth any speed up when you're going to be banned from football for months. It's not worth the risk.'' Alfie suffered a fractured tibia and fibula in a 50-50 tackle and is now in nursing care. told the BBC afterward. The shin pads the boy was wearing during the tackle measured just 3 cm (1.1 inches) by 9 cm (3.5 inches).
@officialbhafc The world's smallest shin pads… 🤣 #BHAFC #AFC #PL ♬ Original song – Brighton & Hove Albion FC
Warrington Town defender Peter Clarke is 25 games away from making 1,000 top-flight appearances since making his Premier League debut for Everton in January 2001. The 42-year-old says he remembers the unwieldy and bulky shin pads of the late '80s. In the 90s and early 2000s, ankle protectors and Velcro straps were incorporated. And while he wears a smaller guard than when he began his career, his extensive experience on the field has kept him from downsizing too much.
“The shoes I'm wearing now are carbon fiber and have chips and scratches, but when I look at them I'm glad I wore them,” said the centre-back, who also played for Huddersfield Town, Oldham Athletic and Tranmere. said. Rovers says.
“Twenty years ago, the tackles would have been more flying. I remember being tackled at full strength and getting hit in the shin. As the game progressed, I noticed there was blood on my socks. The studs were on my shins. It went through the pads and left a 2-inch cut on my shin. It's a contact sport, so it's wise to have as much protection as possible, rather than wearing smaller shin pads.”
Shin pads are designed to protect the player's legs at the moment of impact (VI Images via Getty Images)
His longevity means he is playing in the National League North alongside his Warrington team-mates, who were born after Clarke made his first appearance as a professional. Why does he think more players are opting for smaller shin pads these days?
“I don't like the feeling of it slipping down, so I wear sleeves to prevent that,” Clark says. “Is it that, or is it the look of the individual while playing? But I don't know if 7 inches of plastic or carbon fiber slows a person down that much. I'm not entirely sure, but the situation It's definitely changed and it's not the best in terms of player safety.”
Clarke estimates he has used five or six pairs of shin pads over a career spanning more than 25 years, defending against the likes of Thierry Henry (then at Arsenal) and Cristiano Ronaldo (then at Manchester United). are. He makes sure his daughter and son wear properly sized shin pads to protect themselves when they play, and he encourages others to do the same.
Although he chose a simpler approach, his children have customized guards with photos of themselves and their family members. Many players at all levels are now choosing this, and some elite players even have personalized photos of themselves on their shin guards.
Cristiano Ronaldo wears pads at Euro 2024, featuring photos of those closest to him (Marcus Brandt/Photo in association with Getty Images)
Manchester City's Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson and Crystal Palace's French striker Jean-Philippe Mateta are among the players who take to the pitch with pictures of their faces tucked into their socks.
Luka Modric wears clothes with pictures of himself and his wife and child when he played for the Croatian national team and won the Champions League with Real Madrid, and he often kisses them before going on the pitch. There's Declan Rice, who I'd like to keep forever. Something simple with a guard of plain shock absorbing material.
Luka Modric kisses his shin for good luck (David S. Bustamante/Socrates/Getty Images)
Below the picture of England and Arsenal striker Alessia Russo is a selfie with her parents, and above is a photo of her iconic backheel nutmeg goal against Sweden at the 2022 European Championship. The image was nominated for the Puskas Prize in the same year.
Arsenal and England striker Alessia Russo's shin pads (Molly Darlington – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
For athletes, shin pads serve not only as protection, but also as a positive tribute to motivate themselves before a match.
Former Real Madrid striker Josel wore a picture of a dog on his shinpads during last season's Champions League quarter-final (Gonzalo Arroyo – UEFA/UEFA, via Getty Images)
Some soccer players choose to have specially fitted shin guards. When former Wales international Gareth Bale was at Real Madrid, he wore shoes made by Podoactiva, a biotechnology company specializing in podiatry and biomechanics. We also design custom-fit insoles for players' boots.
After all, shin pads not only exist to protect athletes from serious injury, they also serve as a fashion statement. And, believe it or not, some shin pads are currently helping some players acquire transfers in the transfer window.
Italy and Lazio striker Martina Piemonte will move from AC Milan to Everton in 2023, and one of the reasons for her move to the Women's Super League is that the XSEED shin guards, created by Italian analytics company Soccerment, will It was said that it was useful for collecting inside.
Aldo Comi, co-founder and CEO of the wearable technology company, has been fine-tuning the artificial intelligence shin guard since the product's official launch in 2022. The company currently has about 3,000 players wearing XSEED and using the adjacent app. Interpret your own data. As a brand ambassador, Inter Milan full-back Federico Dimarco is one of the most high-profile male soccer players to wear shin guards.
“We strive to give players ownership of their data and allow them to use it to improve, get faster and better, as well as gain visibility,” Komi said. I say. Soccerment's shin pads measure a player's speed, sprints, shots, crosses, passes, and more. It also became the first wearable technology to offer expected goal (xG) metrics.
Soccermento's “connected” shin pads on display at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (Robin Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
Soccerment recently spent six days participating in Major League Soccer's youth tournament MLS NEXT Fest in California. “Over six days, we digitized 35 games and over 220 players,” explains Komi. “Basically what we did there was create a reconnaissance platform at the event.”
Comi said he was able to create a data breakdown to scout players who outperformed their peers in a variety of areas, with the goal of creating a worldwide scouting platform from this data. ). But the company has noticed the recent trend of shrinking shin guards, especially among youth players, and is already responding to it.
“In the last two years, shin guards have become smaller and smaller. In some cases, players aren't even wearing them,” he says. “You see a lot of professional football players cheat by putting little sponges under their socks, which is dangerous in my opinion. What we have to do[in Soccerment]is this It's about responding to trends, which is why we're resizing our shin guards to make them smaller and lighter.”
Former Blackpool inside forward Alan Brown, pictured in 1953, with shin pads intact (Allsport UK/Getty Images)
But before collecting data and protecting the technology within each pad, Soccerment is first focused on creating shin guards that protect players.
“We wanted to be certified as protective equipment, so we had to choose the highest quality materials. For example, we chose copolymers, which are also used in the aerospace sector for their ability to absorb impact. It was expensive for us, but it really protects the shin guards.
“And the main purpose of shin guards is to protect your shins.”
(Top photo: Pau Barrena/Getty Images, design: Dan Goldfarb)
