NC shoe survey- all black vs. some white

[HLinNC]

Our state office sent out a survey today regarding shoes.  The questions pertained to staying with all black or allowing some white, could a crew have a mixture of all-black/some white on a particular crew and do we have a concern that if some white were allowed would some officials "screw it up". (my wording, not theirs).

I have felt for some time that some modification of the all black rule was in order.  Shoes are increasingly having white trim.  Its more than coloring in a "swoosh" with a Sharpie now.  The soles are white now on most football shoes, coloring that in is a royal pain.  Its nearly impossible to find all leather shoes anymore so leather dye isn't really an option.

I do not care for the Nike clown shoes that the ACC and other conferences wore.  However if given a pair and mandated to wear them, well you know the rest.

Are other states going away from all black shoes?

[RMR]

Louisiana has allowed some white for about 3-4 years now.  The first year it had to be a specific Nike shoe, then it just had to be Nike, now any all black shoe or black shoes with white trim are allowed.

[TampaSteve]

I believe FL says "whatever NF says" regarding officials' shoes.
I'll tell you what.  It's harder & harder to find GOOD all-black shoes & my next pair I'm going to transition to GOOD officials' shoes regardless of if they have white or not.
For my local assn: pretty-much flexible on the issue so all-black or black & white is fine with my local assn.

In as far as coloring: personally it, for the most part looks like crap up close & fades and/or looks worse as the game progresses; therefore, looking quite poor by game's end.

[busman]

IMHO for dry weather and/or artifical turf, New Balance has the best selection of all black leather shoes available.  If it is wet and muddy, who cares?

[bama_stripes]

In Alabama, it's "predominately black football shoes and black laces".

[cougar729]

I think these will be for mostly college football, but as you can see, I think there is starting to be as much white as there is black.

[Etref]

The bigger problem is shoes are such an individual item for many folks. Finding a shoe that fits and mostly black is getting very hard.

I know we want to look uniform but making a crew decision to buy a shoe that may hurt one of the members feet is kind of silly. Just my $.02

I wear the New Balance MF995 which is almost all black but some of my crew cannot wear them as they hurt their feet.



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[Rulesman]

These companies are paying big bucks to the conferences and want all the exposure they can muster. The more their shoe, cap, shirt, etc. can be easily identified on TV from all of the others on the market, the better. Simple marketing.

[HLinNC]

I've got a pair of those Reeboks last year.  Haven't worn them for games so I didn't try to color in the soles and logos.  If they pass muster, I'll probably give them a try this year.

The old Spotbilts I started with were functional but weren't very comfortable.

I still think these are some of the best looking shoes I've ever used.



Hated blacking out the stripes.  adidas hasn't made them in a low style in several years. 

[TampaSteve]

I know that'sd their latest sole design but those Reebok shoes sure are............busy.
Feel a little woozy looking @them too long.

[HLinNC]

I got a catalog from Baseball Savings.com today in the mail that has a solid black model, $84.95 for either color.

[BNE-Ref]

Try getting all black shoes in Australia... we have to be quite relaxed about it.  For the national league, the uniform prescribes predominantly black shoes.  In our state league, we just ask for mostly black from our officials, but don't really mind.  Though, mind you, I worked a few junior (14-18 years) games with a team/player official, who wore yellow shoes the colour of the penalty flags.  Everytime I saw him run by out of the corner of my eye, I thought a flag was down...

[HLinNC]

Just got the word yesterday, we are approved to wear "predominantly black" shoes next year.

[Bob M.]

I wear the New Balance MF995 which is almost all black but some of my crew cannot wear them as they hurt their feet.

REPLY: That's the shoe I wear. I like it quite a bit since I have a wider foot and NB has a pretty good assortment of wide sizes.

[VALJ]

OK, I have to ask - how do you keep the white from getting dingy after a muddy game?

[Rulesman]

OK, I have to ask - how do you keep the white from getting dingy after a muddy game?

Work all of your games on turf! 

[TampaSteve]

OK, I have to ask - how do you keep the white from getting dingy after a muddy game?

don't step in the mud.   
If I'm not mistaken, amonia cleans the white pretty-good.  An old timer I know said when he cleaned his white golf shoes that amonia took the dirty off; but since amonia is corrosive to leather, he topped it off with a bit of armour-all & wiped it off.

[bossman72]

OK, I have to ask - how do you keep the white from getting dingy after a muddy game?

Those are the games when you wear your "mudders."  My mudders aren't awful looking, but they're definitely not ones I would wear to a non-rainy game.

[Roscoe]

In Alabama, it's "predominately black football shoes and black laces".

With that said, here is the shoe I wear. It's the Adidas Turf Hog. It's very comfortable and has great grip on any turf. Sadly I'm moving to Georgia, so unless things have changed, I'll either need new shoes or paint them black somehow.

[HLinNC]

Get a big fat permanent marker and some Kiwi liquid polish and go to work.

I've had turf hogs but I didn't like the mesh upper.

[Andrew McCarthy]

With that said, here is the shoe I wear. It's the Adidas Turf Hog. It's very comfortable and has great grip on any turf. Sadly I'm moving to Georgia, so unless things have changed, I'll either need new shoes or paint them black somehow.

A pretty comfortable shoe but the white bottoms on those make it look like guys are wearing bedroom slippers on the field.