officiating shoes

[raiderfan]

i have used spot-bilt shoes for the past several seasons. It's time for new shoes and i hear spot-bilt is going out of business and supplies / sizes are limited. Any suggestions for replacing my spot-bilts ? My position is back judge

[Welpe]

I like both the Adidas Turf Hogs and Nike turf trainers that Honig's sold this last year. I don't see the Nikes on the Honigs site anymore but if you can find them, they worked well for me.

[HLin NC]

Spot-bilt has actually been gone for several years now.

Shoes are variable- some areas allow "some" white, some still demand all-black-which are almost impossible to find and are getting harder to re-create given the synthetics used now.

What fields do you have- grass, turf, both? If you are calling "pastures", a regular pair of cleats may be in order. If you are calling on well manicured fields, turf shoes will work. On turf you can even get by with cross trainers.

New Balance seems to be the only name brand still interested in marketing to officials. Many of the baseball trainers- adidas, Mizuno, Nike- are well suited for officials but none are all-black if that is what you require. Eastbay is a good source.

Try searching eBay too. I picked up a good pair of new Reebok NFL turf shoes several years ago that I never saw advertised in any of the officiating supply companies.

[Texas Aggie]

i hear spot-bilt is going out of business

Welcome to 2006!

The Spotbuilts I got around 2005 lasted about 3 years of pretty heavy use and then became mud shoes. But I've long since thrown those out. Its actually a shame -- those were some pretty good shoes.

The new Nikes are worth a look. They've got pretty good support and I like their tread. Honigs is the only place I've seen sell these.

The Reebok Zig is pretty popular. I've had the older style Reebok for the last 3 seasons and will look at the Zig this summer when I get a couple of new pair.

Under Armour makes an underrated shoe, but since they're lightweight, they don't last as long as others.

I'm not a big fan of New Balance in their officiating line. The newer, lighter weight NB are better than the ones they had new a few years ago, but I think Nike and Reebok are better. However, NB may be the only thing that fits guys with very wide feet.

I would strongly suggest you have a turf shoe, a grass shoe, and a mud shoe. The latter can be something older. The turf shoe can have a less aggressive tread -- maybe even a running or basketball (ref) shoe.

I strongly recommend you NOT get a shoe designed to play football in. For one thing, the support is terrible. For another, it just doesn't look professional for an official.

[PAUmpire]

I do not care for the NB ref shoes either. I would really love to get a apair of the nike shoes.

[HLin NC]

Which Nikes are y'all referring to? I check Honig's fairly regularly and don't see any.

I know there was a previous post by someone looking for the NFL model but I've not been able to find them. If you watch a game, it looks like they are wearing any black model of Nike they choose now. A few times I've seen about 4 or 5 different models on one crew. The Air Max + 2013 seems to be a popular model for turf.



I have these two:
Nike Lunar MVP Pro- the synthetic is not suede but isn't smooth enough to polish.


Nike Lunar Edge 15- lightweight but can't wear if there is any water as they are mesh. Has same tread as above.