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Australian A-League - kit clash, ref overruled

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CapnBloodbeard

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So, the Australian a-League, aside from being in the grip of the biggest controversy the competition has faced along with across-the-board spectator protests, has caused a bit more controversy.
On of the idiots on the top tier (who has contributed heavily to the problems of late), has overruled the referee in a kit clash:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/footbal...dium-in-auckland/story-e6frf4gl-1227635248736

Basically, the away team has a navy blue home strip and a white away strip. The home team is typically yellow/navy stripes, but they had a silver strip approved as a one-off for this match. The referee said that silver v white clashed too much, so the away team (Melbourne Victory) could wear Navy. The clowns in the ivory tower caught wind of this and overruled the referee, forcing the match to be silver v white.

Thoughts?

Here's an example picture:
http://www.theguardian.com/football...e-wellington-phoenix-v-melbourne-victory-live



On a side note, i wonder if anybody in here will remember Kevin Muscat?
 
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I don't understand why the top brass made them play in white. What was wrong with the blue kit? Or is it a case of home is strictly home, etc?
 
Top brass are incompetent. IF competition rules force teams to not alternate from their away strip, then that would put the obligation onto the FFA to ensure they don't approve clashing kits anyway.
 
That is ridiculous! :confused:

If teams turned up with those kits on a Sunday down the local rec I would be less than happy, should never be allowed to happen at profession level!

Vaguely remember Muscat being a bit of a nutcase during his Palace days!
 
CapnBloodbeard said:
On a side note, i wonder if anybody in here will remember Kevin Muscat?
Click to expand...
Yes, as a Millwall fan I remember Kevin Muscat.
He was a decent full-back, but an utter thug who had should have been in a zoo rather than on a football pitch.
I saw a tackle of his on Aussie TV a few years back than ranks as one of the worst I have ever seen.
 
Ouch, ouch, and ouch again. It's all right though ref, I got the ball (even though I didn't). It's never their own fault for some players, is it!
 
Yeah, he was a complete thug who should have been banned from the game. That tackle was his final match, so he wanted to go out like that. Worst part is, all the referees were terrified of him so he got away with a ridiculous amount.
He's now a coach, and frustratingly he's a good one too - although he does spend 90 minutes abusing the referee and getting away with it!
 
Wellington Phoenix are my local team, but this was a 'home game' at the other end of the country, so I watched on TV. I was lucky I know the players by sight, so could mostly keep track of what was going on.

This picture is a better representation of what it looked like on TV, not to mention the awful state of the pitch, which was made up mostly of sand and green paint.

Full story is the Phoenix (in grey) normally play in yellow and black, but had a one-off kit approved for this game. Somehow nobody at the FFA picked up on the fact that it would be grey vs white, until the ref saw the kits on the day. In accordance with the LOTG, he told Melbourne Victory to change into the blue home kit they had with them. But Victory's commercial people went straight to the FFA, because they have a different away kit sponsor, and would have lost money if they wore their home kit. That's why FFA overruled the ref.



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Absolutely disgraceful that the referee was overruled on this. Interesting to note that MV raised the complaint, when it's MV complaining about it in the media afterwards!! Where did you hear that?
 
Yeah, it's a shocker. My info is from this blog story: http://fiveyearstops.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/the-power-of-patronising-thinking.html

I guess the blog could be misinformed, but I'm inclined to believe it's possible that Muscat and his club's commercial people are at odds with each other on this one.

PS, this is an example of what Muscat brought to the league as a player:

The Melbourne Victory coach in that video is Ernie Merrick, who now coaches the Wellington Phoenix.
 
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Difficult situation for the Referee, but last season I officiated a final when the teams both turned up with similar kits. One team white and the other light grey, even though they were both informed who was the home and who was away team. Neither wished wished to change. I informed both teams that unless they sort it out there would be no game, final or no final. Cue the arrival of league official who notified both teams it was ok and all was in hand. Thirty minutes before the game I received team sheets which still had the same colours. League official present who advised it was fine with them. I informed both teams of the difficulties a colour clash could cause and also the league rules. Final response was if one of you don't change there will be no game. Informed the league official separately that it is not his call on team sheets and to leave the referee's room. Kick off delayed thirty minutes while the away team went and got their kit. They won 5-0. I would never put my assistants in a situation where they are unable to tell who is onside/offside like that. Although a bit easier at my level than the OP.
 
We've got a similar case going on at the moment in our sunday league. One of my colleagues on the next pitch to mine arrived to find his teams warming up, home team in all-black with a 3 inch wide pink stripe on the front of their shirts and away team in all-black with blue collar and cuffs on their shirts. They eventually saw an issue and the away team managed to find bibs.
No teams in England below Conference level are allowed to wear black shirts, because Referees have to wear black shirts below that level.
Basically there were 21 refs on the pitch with half of them wearing bibs! Everybody on the pitch was wearing black socks and shorts. We reported this to the Referee's secretary so the teams could be reminded so this didn't happen again. He passed the message on and was promptly told off because the league had decided that since the away team have a new secretary and are struggling for money they are trying to accommodate them so he doesn't fold the team. They have therefore allowed them to wear this for the rest of the season but they have to get new kit for next year.
The league didn't actually tell us this until we reported it. It doesn't explain why 4 teams out of the 40 on the league, not just this team, have black shirts and we are expected to let them get away with this. Basically they have said that when teams come out in black we have to allow it because they have said that one team can and it would be unfair if we stopped other teams and not them.
A team on the local supply league wore all-black kit with white stripes on the front and it was a really hard game to assess. I had to really concentrate on the Referee's position throughout because I kept losing him and then it was almost impossible to find him again. It meant I couldn't watch for off-the-ball incidents for fear of losing the referee.
Again the league gave them to the end of the season before they had to change their kit. The FA told us point-blank that Referees were not to wear anything other than black and that we were to report them and mark them down on AOL if they did.
 
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