89 Per Cent of Female Rugby Players Experience Foot Discomfort from Boots, According to New IDA Sports Study
Results from over 300 rugby players show additional priorities on fit, price and traction
Tuesday, 5th August, 2025 — In July 2022, IDA Sports, a leading footwear brand dedicated to designing performance boots specifically for women athletes, partnered with the University of Exeter and worked alongside UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to better understand female foot morphology, biomechanics and traction requirements in order to develop the world’s first women’s specific boot for use on soft ground surfaces. Over the last three years, IDA collected nearly 1,000 detailed, 3D foot scans from amateur and professional players from across Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), the National Women’s Soccer League and top English professional leagues for use in the boot’s development.
Alongside these scans, IDA surveyed 330 rugby players across all levels of the sports, including participation from eight of nine PWR teams. The survey data concluded that 78 per cent of female rugby players listed comfort as a top priority when selecting footwear, yet 89 per cent of these athletes experience pain or discomfort in the boots they are wearing.
Specifically, 45 per cent of pain and discomfort was identified under the first metatarsal (big toe), a primary location for a stud on standard, non-female specific boots. Other top priorities included fit (68 per cent), price (62 per cent) and traction (60 per cent).
“On the heels of the Lionesses’ thrilling Euros win and the world’s attention soon turning to the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup in England later this month, we are excited to release the findings of our many years of research and development, which illustrate inequities that women athletes face when it comes to footwear,” said Laura Youngson, co-founder and CEO of IDA Sports. “Since 2018 it has been IDA’s mission to address the bias and create world-class, high-quality boots for female athletes of all ages and skill levels. We hope that the findings of this study will not only draw attention to the impactful data, but push more brands to invest in women athletes as we have proudly done over the last seven years.”
According to the Women’s Rugby Injury Surveillance and Prevention Project led by Dr. Sean Williams, the highest percentage of injuries occurred in the knee and ankle and were primarily ligamental injuries in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 PWR seasons. Through research and product development, IDA aims to address this issue by putting comfort and fit at the forefront of its work to provide high performance footwear for women.
Paired with a global database of over 70 million foot scans from Volumental, IDA Sports has been able to utilise foot morphology metrics and assess fit testing results to validate boot designs against the general population.
Systematically built for women’s foot morphology, IDA’s soft ground (SG) boot incorporates the findings from this research into design, including a novel soleplate with intentionally placed medial and lateral flex zones and stud locations to better distribute pressure across the bottom of the foot during movement. A research investigation with Raw Stadia, experts in player surface interaction technology for elite sports, also helped to inform soleplate and stud design to optimise rotational traction for the female player.
Athletes tested the first iteration of the soft ground boot during the Guinness Women's Six Nations rugby tournament as the IDA x Guinness “Never Settle” Boot—a collaboration between the footwear manufacturer and global beverage brand. Feedback from this trial was used to fine-tune shoe fit and comfort. The Helia Firm Ground (FG) lineup will be available in the UK starting August 15, with Helia Soft Ground (SG) to follow after the Women’s Rugby World Cup on October 1.
Additional research is ongoing with the University of Exeter, with complete analysis and papers on the study to be published at a later date.