Goalie gloves deflect bad tackles

While everyone obsessively checks their RSS feeds – or BBC News 24 if you’re not a geek – for news on Wayne Rooney’s scan, a company has launched a new material which it claims may have been able to protect his metatarsal from Paulo Ferreira.

The shock-absorbing material from d3o makes its footballing debut in these Contour goalkeeper gloves from Sells, and could eventually be used in boots.

So, how does it work? A mini forcefield? A thin coating of marshmallow? No, even more amazingly the gloves contain ‘intelligent’ molecules that flow around as you move, but then lock together on impact.

We doubt they could survive a vicious lunge from Michael Essien, but the material could potentially reduce minor fractures and bruises. Well, Jerzy Dudek and Mike Pollitt seem to think so – they’ll be wearing them for Liverpool reserves and Wigan next season.

The Contour d30 gloves will be available from 15th June for £55 from JJB, Intersport, Just Keepers, Pro Direct Soccer and Great Save stores. For more info on d3o, go to its site here.

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Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.