What kind of shoes do you guys wear when officiating? Turf shoes? Or do any of you wear cleats? I need a decent, inexpensive (under $45) pair to get me through the summer.
I wear running shoes. Asics Gel Trabuco are mostly black, Adidas has a climacool shoe that is mostly black. A little blacking, and they work great for centering on a hard field, though are a bit loose for the AR job. $45 is a tough price to meet for decent shoes, though. Until I changed to running shoes for dry fields, I constantly had black toenails and sore calves and back. The first match I wore the running shoes, I thought I was on a cloud. Another shoe - New Balance has a trail running shoe in black. Also, Nike Air Peagus Storm can be had in black.
If you can only get one pair of shoes, I would suggest that you get turf shoes. They are functional on firm groud and they give you some better footing on wet fields. After you earn all of the big money from reffing, I would suggest getting a pair of flats and a pair of cleated shoes. The flats are best on hard, dried out fields, while the cleats obviously word the best on soaked, slippery fields. If you are doing more than one game in a day, I would suggest getting shoes with more of a padded sole. Some shoes have little if any padding, and after a game or two, I can feel every little bump on the field. What brand of shoe you purchase depends on the individual if the features and qualities are the same. Just my opinion.
Since I a) have some disposable income and b) like my ref toys, I own two pairs of shoes. I have a pair of Nike turf shoes and a pair of Adidas detachable cleats. I only wear the cleats on very wet fields.
I used a pair of Addias Turf for many years but now use Spotbilt, they are comfortable from the first time you put them on. Have had current ones 4 years (approx 1200 games) and am about due for new pair. Both served well only Spotbilt about $40.00 cheaper.