White Boots/Black Boots In a recent article for Stylus, Nick Southall listed his Top Ten Favourite Footballers. He listed Thierry Henry of course, and mentioned in passing that Henry is "one of the only players ever to look good in white boots".

I have a long-standing prejudice against white football boots - to me any player that wears white boots has tickets on himself, is a showpony, and thinks he's more important than the team. So I was a bit surprised to find myself agreeing with Nick - Henry could wear whatever colour boots he wants to and he would still look good. So why is it OK for Henry, but not for anyone else?

The reason I think is that Henry has the skills to justify wanting to stand out from the rest of the team. On him the boots aren't a distraction, he doesn't look slow, and he's clearly the best player on the field.

But there are so many players now who wear white or multicoloured boots - and almost none of them are as good as Henry. Something needs to be done - all these idiots in coloured boots are ruining the game. So far I've found two proposals to fix the problem. Anthony J Evans (of the Filter^) has suggested a system of National Boot Committees to decide on when a player is good enough to justify the wearing of white (or other colour) boots. At the grassroots level, Early Doors is running a white boot amnesty.

These are all fine efforts, but I think my solution is much more workable. The next time you're playing a game of football and you need to tackle someone who's wearing white boots, make sure you go in studs out. And when he hobbles away in pain, make sure you point out that's what he gets for wearing white boots. Unless of course you happen to be playing against Thierry Henry.  ¶ 8:27 AM