The Ref Stop

Junior/Youth Conflicting colours in equipment

SamSkywalker

New Member
Level 4 Referee
I have had one of the most bizarre games in my entire career today. Division 1 U12 game, home side wear royal blue (shirt, shorts, and socks), and the away team appear with a dark purple kit (well, the socks were white). I could only realise this some 40 minutes before KO, and dealing with this eventual yput me between a rock and a hard place.

The thing is that I arrived to the facilities one hour before KO, and the first thing I am told is that all previous games on that ground had been abandoned because of the rainwater on the field. This asked for an exhaustive inspection, so as to be positive that player’s safety wouldn’t be endangered. So did I, and this took me almost 20 minutes. No sooner had I finished the inspection than I summoned the club officials for the equipment checks. Then, they told me that they haven’t brough the away kit nor did they have a set of numbered bibs (this solution is ok for this league). The home team are unable to go each player to his own home and bring the alternative shirts, so the only solution for the game to be played is that the away officials go to their ground and bring the away kit.

However, as KO time looms on us, I’m told by the away coach that the kits are still under way, and they are expected to need some 15 minutes. That’s more than the time I have, as other games are scheduled after mine. He then brings about this solution: they have used white warm-up shirts, and they propose making numbers on them with a permanent marker (you know, they’re not always so permanent when there’s water around), and they change to the away kit at the earliest convenient opportunity.

I accept, starting some 10 minutes late. To be honest, it didn’t cause any trouble, and I think that, as it didn’t rain at all during the game, we could have played this way all the game -however, I’m not so sure what would have been the situation with more rain. The alternative kits arrived 5 minutes into the game, and a home player needed assistance at that moment. They required my permission to change their kits at that moment, and no more than one minute after the game restarted, now with a good kit of shirts properly numbered.

Note that the numbers of both kits coincided, and I used extra zeal when dealing with incidents after the change. No card, subs, or goal had happened by that time.
 
The Ref Stop
Just play the game in the white training kit....don't worry about numbers. If you are carrying out your caution procedure correctly you won't get mixed up, plus there are other ways of identifying players....boot colour, hair colour/style....etc etc

Personally, without seeing the kits, not really seeing much of a clash between royal blue and dark purple.....?
 
Just play the game in the white training kit....don't worry about numbers. If you are carrying out your caution procedure correctly you won't get mixed up, plus there are other ways of identifying players....boot colour, hair colour/style....etc etc

Personally, without seeing the kits, not really seeing much of a clash between royal blue and dark purple.....?
O, believe me. Once I had to assist a referee who allowed this combination, and I couldn’t tell them apart. Neither could he. Nor the assessor. We got a very clear message: never allow this, even if this looks nice at the changing room. Moreover, it didn’t even look nice there.

Besides, the league requieres shirts to be numbered. They have also set dimensions for the numbers and requiere that they clearly contrast with the shirt’s background.
 
O, believe me. Once I had to assist a referee who allowed this combination, and I couldn’t tell them apart. Neither could he. Nor the assessor. We got a very clear message: never allow this, even if this looks nice at the changing room. Moreover, it didn’t even look nice there.

Besides, the league requieres shirts to be numbered. They have also set dimensions for the numbers and requiere that they clearly contrast with the shirt’s background.

So play the game in the white tops and report to the league afterwards.......easiest solution, that allows the kids to play football without any dramas.,
 
If one of the boys has sock tape, you can use it to make numbers on the backs of shirts.

I usually carry some tape around with me, in case a home team has forgot tape for their goal, or I need to use it in this situation.
 
Earlier this season I had a game with:

Home Team: West Ham Colours.

Away team turned up five minutes before kick off, in... West Ham Colours, except for a small patch on the back of the shirt.

We played it, and I don't know how the hell I managed that one, but we survived. I wonder if an assessor would have bollocked me for doing that, but I didn't see the point in wasting an entire Saturday afternoon. I would have dealt with it had the away team not turned up so late, but there was no harm done at the end of the day I guess. @_@
 
I coached a kids team for 6 years. Had several occasions where the away team turned up in the same coloured kit despite me stating the colour on a text (one team did it 2 years running lol). I reffed all these games, the soltions ranging from shirts inside out to bibs. At u12 level or similar, common sense should prevail, just let the kids play!
 
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, although sometimes league rules would allow you to decrease the length of each half. This may have also been a solution whilst waiting for the kit if your league rules allow you?
 
Are the numbers a requirement? Could you have played without the numbers? Not ideal, but at this age group it is unlikely to have to issue cards.
I once refereed a local first grade match with the 'forgot the away strip' issue. I allowed them to wear training bibs on the field. Of course this concealed the numbers so they had to raise it if they got booked. Not ideal but it got the game played.

Seen turning shirts inside out work as well.
 
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, although sometimes league rules would allow you to decrease the length of each half. This may have also been a solution whilst waiting for the kit if your league rules allow you?
Not the case actually. League rules require that both halves be played entirely.

Are the numbers a requirement? Could you have played without the numbers? Not ideal, but at this age group it is unlikely to have to issue cards.
I once refereed a local first grade match with the 'forgot the away strip' issue. I allowed them to wear training bibs on the field. Of course this concealed the numbers so they had to raise it if they got booked. Not ideal but it got the game played.
Seen turning shirts inside out work as well.
Yeah, league rules require that numbers be displayed on the back of the shirts. They also set out their dimensions, the space between letters in case they carry their names... pretty much everything. League rules, even though they allow playing with bibs, are clear that they must be numbered. Shirts were impractical to be turned inside out, as the inside was the same colour.

In short, I'd dare saying that leagues with high standards (just like this one) require clubs to abide by them. Whenever they fail to comply with them, there's always a ref in trouble.
 
I must say well done for arriving to the ground well in advance and following the correct process for ground and equipment check. I know many referees who would think just because its U12, its not as important as an adult game and take pre-match procedure shortcuts.

As for the shirts, the reason for the number is to be able to identify players. I would have gone with the white tops without numbers to avoid loosing time and identify players by other means if needs be. But at half time either change to away kit or get numbers on the white tops. The chances of having issues with numbers in the first half is much smaller than second half.

And most definitely report incident to the league.
 
In short, I'd dare saying that leagues with high standards (just like this one) require clubs to abide by them. Whenever they fail to comply with them, there's always a ref in trouble.
If it's a league requirement then as you say, it's the clubs that have to comply with them so if anyone were to be in trouble it should surely be the club, not the referee. The referee should just report to the competition organisers what happened and anything further should be between the league and the club(s) concerned. It's the same principle as if a team fields an ineligible player - it's against the rules of competition but it's not up to the referee to stop them playing, you just include it in your report (assuming you're aware of it).

As far as the laws go, I would tend to go with the following principle that the laws lay down (especially in a U12 game) and just include the shirt numbering issue in my report:

"Reference is made in Law 5 to referees operating within the framework of the Laws of the Game and the ‘spirit of the game’. Referees are expected to use common sense and to apply the ‘spirit of the game’ when applying the Laws of the Game, especially when making decisions relating to whether a match takes place and/or continues.

This is especially true for the lower levels of football where it may not always be possible for the Law to be strictly applied."
 
To be frank if you’re going to be that anal (not necessarily a bad thing) about following the rules of competition on an U12 game then you should be confirming colours with both sides in advance of the game.
 
To be frank if you’re going to be that anal (not necessarily a bad thing) about following the rules of competition on an U12 game then you should be confirming colours with both sides in advance of the game.
Good luck with that!

It seems clubs find hard enough confirming colours to each other prior to the game, let alone informing a grassroots referee. Had an u15s match recently where the clubs secretaries communicated their colours to each other, however it didn't stop the away team turning up for the match with the same shade of blue shirts as the home team. As I was getting out of my car, the home chairman greeted me to inform me of a clash. Fortunately there was enough time before kick off for an away team parent to race off and return with a box of Orange shirts 10 minutes before kick off.
 
To be frank if you’re going to be that anal (not necessarily a bad thing) about following the rules of competition on an U12 game then you should be confirming colours with both sides in advance of the game.

Sorry but not sorry. My game was scheduled at 16.00. There were a number of matches scheduled before mine on that ground since 9.00, all of them abandoned due to the pitch conditions, and it had merely been two hours since the heavy rains ceased. So the sensitive thing seems to be deciding whether there's gonna be match at all. The inspection had to be exhaustive...

Besides, RoC require the away side to travel with the alternative kits at all times. So it seems reasonable to assume that a division 1 club do their duty.
 
Good luck with that!

It seems clubs find hard enough confirming colours to each other prior to the game, let alone informing a grassroots referee. Had an u15s match recently where the clubs secretaries communicated their colours to each other, however it didn't stop the away team turning up for the match with the same shade of blue shirts as the home team. As I was getting out of my car, the home chairman greeted me to inform me of a clash. Fortunately there was enough time before kick off for an away team parent to race off and return with a box of Orange shirts 10 minutes before kick off.

Thanks for sharing!

Something I recall early this season: an adults game to be played at the same ground, between the same club's first team and another club. RoC there require not only shirts but the entire kit to be different. They were a recently promoted team and weren't quite aware of that, and they brought with them their first kit (with blue shorts and socks), and an alternative jersey (which was not needed). This time, as the weather was perfect and all I was concerned about the ground was whether the net would require some minor last-minute fixing or not, I held the kit meeting 75 minutes before KO. They were genuinely surprised that they had to change the bottoms, but it didn't take them even two minutes to change that to a constructive attitude. They soon recalled that there was a shop open nearby (merely 15 minutes by car), they phoned them when they were on their way so that they prepared the order, arrived, paid, collected their brand-new shorts and socks, and presented them to me 35 minutes before KO.
 
If there is a sock clash I ask for one of the teams to tape their socks with a different colour. The issue is normally they only have the colour tape of the socks. A tip I picked up on here .
 
Hi all.

Reffed my first game since passing the course yesterday and had a similar scenario.
Under 12s, Blue and white stripes versus Blues. Blues ended up as the yellow bibs, no numbers.

Had enough racing round my head prior to the start to worry whether bibs were acceptable or not.
Blue coach just handed his side the bibs and away we went.

Enjoyable first game though, looking forward to the next one.
 
At youth (in particular), do everything you can to get the game on. Play and then report. Only thing really stopping me at OA and vets would be lack of shirt numbers (so no turning shirts inside out, bibs obscuring shirt numbers etc). Odd coloured shorts, mismatched / clashing socks... "guys, you're all wearing the same colour socks, so we can either wait for someone to go and get the right socks, or we can crack on and accept I'll make mistakes over who last played the ball". You can guarantee what their response to that will be. Obviously if the league is of a reasonable standard you're not likely to hit those problems.
 
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