Craig's Boot

Although the football boot has evolved over the years, becoming lighter and more streamlined, the first radical re-think had to wait for former Liverpool player Craig Johnston and a rainy day in his native Australia. It has always been accepted that a football boot is made of leather, but is this the best material to provide control of the ball? Many experiments and prototypes later, Johnston's moulded rubber boot is undergoing trials and is arousing huge interest throughout the football-playing world. Leeds veteran Gordon Strachan says: "You've never seen anything like it - it's got a sweet spot like a golf club." And after testing the boot Liverpool and England under-21 player Jamie Redknapp confessed: "I could not hit those shots with my normal boot." Although Johnston has no training in technology he has always been an 'ideas man', and this film traces the story of what could prove to be his most lucrative idea to date.