{"id":470428,"date":"2026-02-10T10:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/470428\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T10:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:51:10","slug":"why-are-some-football-shin-pads-so-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/470428\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are some football shin pads so small?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Burnley's<\/p>\n

[Getty Images]<\/p>\n

Images of Burnley’s Marcus Edwards have been going viral after the 27-year-old was seen wearing barely-visible shin pads during a Premier League match against West Ham.<\/p>\n

It echoes a similar situation from last year when a picture of Brighton’s 17-year-old midfielder Harry Howell celebrating with team-mate James Milner also gained attention after fans noticed the visible difference in the size of their shin pads.<\/p>\n

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Howell’s ‘micro’ pair were an obvious contrast to Milner’s far more traditional-sized guards.<\/p>\n

So what is behind the trend of extra-small shin guards, and why are they used instead of regular-sized pairs?<\/p>\n

The simple answer is that players can choose what size shin pads they want to wear.<\/p>\n

The International Football Association Board (Ifab), responsible for the laws of the game, say that shin pads are a mandatory piece of equipment players must wear while playing.<\/p>\n

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Law 4.2 states that shin pads must:<\/p>\n

Be made of a suitable material<\/p>\n

Be of an appropriate size to provide reasonable protection and be covered by the socks<\/p>\n

And players are responsible for the size and suitability of their shin pads<\/p>\n

The law does not define what an “appropriate” shin pad size is, but leave that decision to each individual player.<\/p>\n

Shin pads provide vital protection for players to prevent serious injuries.<\/p>\n

There has been a rising trend in younger footballers, as well as some big stars, wearing small shin pads during matches.<\/p>\n

The reason for this could be for more comfort and to allow players to move around with greater ease.<\/p>\n

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Referees are only required to check that some form of shin guards are being worn, Ifab told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n

Ifab said players – or the parents or guardians of youth players – must take responsibility for their own safety on the pitch.<\/p>\n

While shin pad size is ultimately an individuals choice, any decisions around player safety would also be made in consultation with their club and medical staff.<\/p>\n

Have small shin pads been banned?<\/p>\n

Grassroots football teams have started to ban small shin pads for safety reasons.<\/p>\n

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There are concerns that small shin pads do not cover the shins properly, which can lead to an increased risk of injury – especially at non-elite level.<\/p>\n

In August 2024, a football club banned small shin pads<\/a> after a youth player suffered a double leg break.<\/p>\n

Penistone Church player Alfie Collins broke his tibia and fibula in a tackle during a game. The teenager’s shin pads, which were no bigger than a credit card, were similar to a size recently worn by some stars of the professional game.<\/p>\n

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Shin pads “play an important role in injury prevention as they are intended to protect the shin from injury”, the Football Association said.<\/p>\n

“‘Micro’ or ‘mini’ shin pads may therefore increase the risk of injury due to the smaller amount of shin covered compared to larger sized shin pads”, they added.<\/p>\n

This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything<\/a> team.<\/p>\n

More questions answered…\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Getty Images] Images of Burnley’s Marcus Edwards have been going viral after the 27-year-old was seen wearing barely-visible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,78347,240281,85],"class_list":["post-470428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-james-milner","tag-shin-pads","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}