Designer Glasses in Glasgow: How to Choose Frames That Last
28 September 2026
08:04
Most club committees have a view on gum shields, and increasingly on head injury protocols. Very few have ever discussed eyes.
That is understandable. Eye injuries in club sport are uncommon compared with soft tissue damage, and a committee has finite attention. But they sit in an unusual category: relatively rare, disproportionately serious when they happen, and among the most straightforwardly preventable injuries in sport. An anterior cruciate ligament is difficult to protect. An eye is not.
This article sets out what a club should reasonably require, to what standard, and how to write it down without creating a bureaucracy. It is one part of the club partnership we offer to Glasgow clubs.
Two things determine whether eyewear survives a hit: the lens material and the frame.
On lenses, the relevant materials are polycarbonate and Trivex. Both are substantially more impact resistant than standard plastic lens materials, and both are what we fit as standard for anyone playing sport. This is not an upsell; it is the appropriate material for the application, and the difference in a collision is not marginal.
On frames, a sports frame is designed to deform and absorb rather than snap. A conventional frame under sudden load can fail in a way that puts rigid material into the orbit, which is the precise scenario the design is intended to avoid.
A retention strap on an ordinary frame does not make it a sports frame. It keeps a non-impact-rated frame attached to the face, which is a different thing from making it safe.
For most sports, impact rated eyewear is a strong recommendation. For squash it moves closer to a requirement, and squash is the clearest case in club sport.
A squash ball is close to the diameter of the eye socket, which means the orbital rim offers little protection, and it travels at speed in an enclosed court. It is one of the few sports where the injury mechanism is well understood and the preventive equipment is unambiguous.
World Squash requires juniors, defined as under 19, to wear appropriate protective eyewear in World Squash Federation team championships and junior individual championships. The standards recognised for certified protectors are ISO 18527-2:2021, BS EN 18527-2:2021 and ASTM F3164-19.
Worth flagging for anyone researching this: a great deal of published advice still cites ASTM F803, which has been superseded for racquet sports. If a supplier quotes you F803, ask what the product is certified to now.
The important point for a committee is that this applies whether or not a player needs a prescription. Protective eyewear in squash is protective equipment first and a correction second. Plenty of juniors with perfect vision should be wearing it.
Sport | What a club should require | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Squash | Certified eye protectors for all players | ISO 18527-2:2021 / BS EN 18527-2:2021 / ASTM F3164-19 |
Racquetball & badminton | Certified protectors strongly advised | Same standards; check your governing body |
Rugby | Impact rated frames or contact lenses | No rigid conventional frames in contact |
Football | Impact rated frames with retention | Or contact lenses for adult players |
Hockey | Face protection per governing body, plus impact lenses | Goalkeepers and penalty corners especially |
Cycling | Shatter resistant lenses, UV rated | Debris and insect strike, not impact, is the main risk |
Cricket | Impact rated lenses; helmet grille per rules | Close fielders and wicketkeepers |
Swimming | Correctly fitted goggles | Injury risk low; correction matters more |
Always check your own governing body’s current rules before writing anything into a club policy. Requirements change, and the governing body outranks any general advice including ours.
The highest priority group, for three reasons. Their frames take a harder life, their reaction times are still developing, and an eye injury early in life carries decades of consequence. This is also where a club policy has most effect, because parents follow club guidance and children follow parents. Our article on children’s sports glasses covers the parent-facing side.
The group most often missed entirely. Someone with significantly reduced vision in one eye is described clinically as functionally monocular, and for them an injury to the good eye is a different order of event. They may not have mentioned it, because they have lived with it since childhood and do not think of it as relevant.
If a player has told your medical or welfare officer this, protective eyewear should be treated as necessary rather than advisable, whatever the sport. It is worth including a question about vision in one eye on your medical form, since almost no club asks it.
Anyone who has had laser refractive surgery, a lens implant or retinal treatment should have a conversation with their optometrist about what is appropriate for their sport. The answer is usually reassuring, but it should be an informed answer rather than an assumption.
Committees resist policy because policy means paperwork. This does not need to. A single paragraph in your existing kit or safety document is enough, and it does three useful things: it settles the question before an injury forces it, it gives coaches something to point at, and it demonstrates that the club considered the issue.
A workable form of words looks something like this, adapted to your sport and your governing body’s rules:
“Players requiring vision correction must wear impact resistant eyewear or contact lenses during training and matches. Conventional spectacles are not permitted in contact situations. [For racquet sports:] All juniors must wear certified eye protectors meeting ISO 18527-2:2021 or equivalent. The club can advise members on suitable options.”
That is it. Add a line naming who members should speak to for advice, review it when your governing body updates its rules, and the matter is dealt with.
Non-prescription certified eye protectors for racquet sports are inexpensive, and considerably cheaper than most items of club kit a committee approves without discussion.
Prescription sports eyewear costs more, and the price varies with the frame, the lens material and the strength of the correction, so a single figure would be misleading. What we would say to a club is that the examination underpinning it is largely NHS-funded in Scotland, and that a player who needs correction is going to buy eyewear anyway. The question is whether they buy something suitable for their sport or something that is not.
We fit both prescription and non-prescription sports eyewear, and the discipline-by-discipline detail is in our sports eyewear guide.
Someone at your committee will say that players will not wear it. They are not being obstructive; it is a real concern and worth taking seriously.
The experience across sports that have adopted protective eyewear is that resistance is largely a norms problem rather than a comfort problem. Where a club requires it from the start, particularly at junior level, it becomes unremarkable within a season. Where it is optional, the players most at risk are often the ones who decline.
Fit does matter, though. Protective eyewear that fogs, slides or sits badly gets pushed onto a forehead within twenty minutes, at which point it is protecting nothing. That is an argument for fitting it properly rather than for not requiring it.
This is one part of a club partnership for rugby, football and cycling clubs across Glasgow, alongside a squad eye test check, a talk on eye injury prevention, and guidance on duty of care. We are happy to advise on a kit policy whether or not a club takes anything else.
Book your comprehensive eye examination or eyewear styling consultation with
Mosspark Opticians today.
For squash and racquet sports, the currently recognised standards are ISO 18527-2:2021, BS EN 18527-2:2021 and ASTM F3164-19. Note that a lot of older published advice cites ASTM F803, which has been superseded for racquet sports. For other sports, the baseline is impact resistant lens materials such as polycarbonate or Trivex in a purpose-designed sports frame.
World Squash requires juniors, defined as under 19, to wear appropriate protective eyewear in WSF team championships and junior individual championships, using protectors certified to the standards above. Many clubs apply the same rule at ordinary junior sessions. Check your own governing body and club rules, as they can be stricter than the international minimum.
No. A retention strap keeps an ordinary frame attached to the face but does nothing about the frame material, the lens material or the way a conventional frame behaves under sudden load. Impact resistance is a property of the eyewear itself, not of how securely it is attached.
Polycarbonate and Trivex are the two impact resistant materials used for sports eyewear, and both are substantially more resistant than standard plastic lens materials. Either should be considered the baseline for any player who needs correction and plays contact or ball sport.
Yes, and this is the group most often missed. A player who is functionally monocular faces a different order of consequence from an injury to their remaining good eye. Many will not have mentioned it because they have lived with it since childhood. Consider adding a question about vision in one eye to your club medical form.
Non-prescription certified eye protectors for racquet sports are inexpensive, generally less than many items of club kit approved without discussion. Prescription sports eyewear costs more and varies with frame, lens material and prescription strength, so we would rather quote properly at a fitting than give a misleading headline figure.
Where a club requires it from the outset, particularly at junior level, it becomes normal within a season. Where it is optional, the players most at risk often decline. Fit matters greatly though: protective eyewear that fogs or slides ends up on a forehead within twenty minutes, so proper fitting is part of making a policy work.
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