The Ref Stop

The new Nike Kit 26-30

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norfolkref

norfolkref

New Member
Level 6 Referee
Just curious everyone's opinions really. And I've not seen it discussed yet on here.

I've managed to pick up a black long sleeve and a volt yellow short sleeve. They're on kit locker for £30ish and the shorts for £28 which is a bit nicer than the likes of refstop etc at £50ish. Obviously not badged but just about capable enough to do this at home.

When the graphic released of it I wasn't that keen but it's a lot nicer in person, my only real gripe is the shorts - the tops are identical in sizing to the current Nike 2 kit. But the shorts, crikey. I'm a larger 6ft2 lad so typically as this is all dri-fit slim fit, it's larger sizes. XL on the top and XXL on the bottom. The new shorts are like kites - massive.

The sizing has changed so much, the drawstring is inside not outside, and your two side pockets are now zipped. Larger pull tab on the back for your coin/red cards. The short sizes go up to 4XL now by looks of it. They are a LOT thinner material as well, compared to the top. I've put a comparative photo between the current dry shorts and the new one so you can see the size difference. I'm debating I could probably get in a large in shorts so I would recommend measuring yourself.

So yeah hopefully this helps someone else out!

Socks haven't changed, so that's one less thing to buy.

It's getting it's first wear Sunday (weather permitting of course! 🌦️)
 

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The Ref Stop
Not great news about the shorts (though don’t mind a zip - the Joma shorts are nice, but mainly used for dog walks lol). Think I’ll get some old stock in the size that fits currently.

Why oh why they haven’t gone to integrated pockets yet on the jersey I don’t know. They look AWWWFULLLL. (Would obviously end up costing £100 a shirt cos Nike will Nike).

Do the blacks match from shirt to shorts finally? Am in a county without a colour option.
 
So far as I'm aware, the FA are yet to confirm the expectation for officials on steps 2-6 of the NLS, so I'd advise L4 and above hold off on purchasing.

The shorts thing may be good news for me. As a 5ft 10, 11 stone guy, I currently have to wear large shorts to be able to fit my thunder thighs in, so maybe I'll be able to go down to medium.

Pockets wise... I only use my shirt pockets for a spare set of cards and pens. Yellow in right hand short pocket (so I'll be leaving that unzipped) and red in the back. Notebook in left hand side short pocket (zip may be handy there as I use write on cards so rarely need note book)
 
Archer said:
Not great news about the shorts (though don’t mind a zip - the Joma shorts are nice, but mainly used for dog walks lol). Think I’ll get some old stock in the size that fits currently.

Why oh why they haven’t gone to integrated pockets yet on the jersey I don’t know. They look AWWWFULLLL. (Would obviously end up costing £100 a shirt cos Nike will Nike).

Do the blacks match from shirt to shorts finally? Am in a county without a colour option.
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If wearing the new top and shorts, then yes white tick on both, but colours have a black tick on them so you could just wear the 'old' shorts then they would match, but then I suppose the socks have white ticks as well. And yes I'd say that black on the shorts match the black on the top. Although the shorts material is a lot thinner i dont think you could wear anything other than black boxers without them showing through, that's how thin the material is 😅 The short pockets are VERY deep as well, suppose that's worth a mention.

I'll attach a photo of the shirt and shorts, they're an identical black now at least to my eyes!
RefereeX said:
So far as I'm aware, the FA are yet to confirm the expectation for officials on steps 2-6 of the NLS, so I'd advise L4 and above hold off on purchasing.

The shorts thing may be good news for me. As a 5ft 10, 11 stone guy, I currently have to wear large shorts to be able to fit my thunder thighs in, so maybe I'll be able to go down to medium.

Pockets wise... I only use my shirt pockets for a spare set of cards and pens. Yellow in right hand short pocket (so I'll be leaving that unzipped) and red in the back. Notebook in left hand side short pocket (zip may be handy there as I use write on cards so rarely need note book)
Click to expand...

I'm not at that level yet but on the call I had the other week, my CFA are looking at these shirts for this years county cup finals and have said the Nike deal runs to 2030. Seeing as it's borderline impossible to get certain colours of the Dry2 shirt as it's now end of line I figured this was good option to go for. I like the Adidas stuff that Scotland wear but England is all Nike as the 'preferred' supplier iirc. I'm going to pickup the red one of these, more options for Portugal that just leaves the Grape colour, have tried a large and I've still some work to do so XL will sort me for now.

But I'm the similar as you, left shorts for wallet, right for gloves if I have them, back for coin.
 

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I'm an Adidas man to be honest - the 24 kit is smart and understated, and was much cheaper than the Nike one. They've got a new one that will be warn at the World Cup this year so I might be tempted to upgrade!
 
Zips on the short pockets isn’t for me (its just asking for a forgotten zip and a then a card going missing)

Hoping to stay in the current shorts, if we can get away with it.
 
JA1989 said:
Zips on the short pockets isn’t for me (its just asking for a forgotten zip and a then a card going missing)

Hoping to stay in the current shorts, if we can get away with it.
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I can't see why not tbh, ive just found the purple one in stock somewhere and thats got a black tick on it, the length on the shorts are the same so wouldnt look too different i dont think
 
norfolkref said:
shorts material is a lot thinner
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I cannot wait to stand out in the rain in sub-zero temperatures and be stuck at the halfway line staring emptily at the referee who is doing rounds while I am stuck there not allowed to even move ... but oh well.

norfolkref said:
Socks haven't changed, so that's one less thing to buy.
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I am pretty sure they're different than the ones in the 22 - 26 kit ... unless we in central europe had different ones than you lot. But I do prefer these new ones, they look slicker in my opinion and they look like they have the sticky grip bottoms? Unless the store photos lie ... that's why I like the Macron ones that only have the string at the heel so you can wear grip on socks or different socks if you have ankle issues (to be fair Nike did release only sleeve socks now in this kit package).

JA1989 said:
Hoping to stay in the current shorts, if we can get away with it.
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To be fair, any sensible CFA will promote you wearing the old bottoms with the new black tick tops ... unless the whole concept is "bottom ticks match and top doesn't because of AeSthETiCs".

At the end of the day, I like them - but here I'm hoping my CFA strikes a deal with Macron as all our regional referee FAs have moved on to Macron-sponsored tracksuits, jumpers and the like.
 
If the previous Nike shorts had pocket problems - i can’t wear them because everything falls out - zips bring more problems than they solve.

I have about 9 pairs of ref shorts, Patrick, Adidas and Nike. Adidas 2014 (?) with the little purple hem are the easy winners. The Adidas 16s all exploded at the crotch, the Patricks are like army tents, Nikes just awful, the two Adidas 2024s I wear now do the job, but those Adidas 2014s still get used for loads of other indoor sport and they are a different class 🤝

Yes, I will do a TV futsal match on Sunday in Nike kit but Adidas shorts. Life is too short/s!
 
I'm seriously going to have an issue of getting rid of my current kits at the end of the season. As someone who was 17 when it first came out (now 21) I've had to buy quite a few kits to keep up with growth, both width and height wise.
 
I'm down to 1 pair of shorts and they have a small hole in the side. (so small it's unnoticeable). Seriously debating between buying a new pair of old shorts, a pair of new shorts, or seeing it through to the end of the season (or hoping to at least)
 
Like mentioned above I am awaiting to see what the FA decide for us. As when they changed the badge they provided us all with new shirts. So will thye supply badges, give us a new top etc.. So I'm holding off until we get the nod etc..

But thanks for the heads up on sizing..
 
Samuel said:
I'm seriously going to have an issue of getting rid of my current kits at the end of the season. As someone who was 17 when it first came out (now 21) I've had to buy quite a few kits to keep up with growth, both width and height wise.
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Vinted is fantastic I doubt you'll have much trouble selling them on, it's where I've put mine as gone from XXL to a XL/L in 6 months. If your CFA has a FB or Whatsapp group as ours does, may be worth sticking them in there I nabbed two colours off another ref a few weeks ago.
 
RefereeX said:
I'm down to 1 pair of shorts and they have a small hole in the side. (so small it's unnoticeable). Seriously debating between buying a new pair of old shorts, a pair of new shorts, or seeing it through to the end of the season (or hoping to at least)
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That's seriously funny but old news. An old pair of new shorts are better than a new pair of old shorts. I wore a pair to my modern history classes. It was a pretty ugly class but it was my only choice.
To give you an exact estimate, the original copy of the course notes were clearly confusing.
 
norfolkref said:
Just curious everyone's opinions really. And I've not seen it discussed yet on here.

I've managed to pick up a black long sleeve and a volt yellow short sleeve. They're on kit locker for £30ish and the shorts for £28 which is a bit nicer than the likes of refstop etc at £50ish. Obviously not badged but just about capable enough to do this at home.

When the graphic released of it I wasn't that keen but it's a lot nicer in person, my only real gripe is the shorts - the tops are identical in sizing to the current Nike 2 kit. But the shorts, crikey. I'm a larger 6ft2 lad so typically as this is all dri-fit slim fit, it's larger sizes. XL on the top and XXL on the bottom. The new shorts are like kites - massive.

The sizing has changed so much, the drawstring is inside not outside, and your two side pockets are now zipped. Larger pull tab on the back for your coin/red cards. The short sizes go up to 4XL now by looks of it. They are a LOT thinner material as well, compared to the top. I've put a comparative photo between the current dry shorts and the new one so you can see the size difference. I'm debating I could probably get in a large in shorts so I would recommend measuring yourself.

So yeah hopefully this helps someone else out!

Socks haven't changed, so that's one less thing to buy.

It's getting it's first wear Sunday (weather permitting of course! 🌦️)
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more re. the shorts. Awful fit, awful material, awful drawstrings, just an all round downgrade from the current ones. All feels very lazy from Nike. I personally liked the current ones a lot so feel like they've tried to fix something that isn't broken...
 
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