The Ref Stop

Bracknell Town v Reading

As the ref, I had a very similar situation last season - again in a Ladies match at a similar level, possibly even the same teams? Teams aren't always as good at communicating kit details as they should be.

Home team in blue, away team in the exact same shade of blue with some red detailing, both wearing all blue shorts and socks. Home team were furious as apparently they'd gone away to this team earlier in the season, hadn't been told there would be a clash and got a fine for starting the match late when they sent someone home to pick up their away kit, so they absolutely weren't changing. Away team were insistent it was the home team's responsibility to change and didn't have a spare kit with them anyway. After some back and forth, I got both manager together with around 30 minutes to kick off and told them they had 10 minutes to come up with a solution or we were going home.

Faced with this threat, it turned out the away team had grey training tops they hadn't thought to mention before. They then sent their captain to a local sports direct to pick up 10 pairs of white socks and I just made do with both teams in blue shorts. Not ideal, but good enough to get the match going.
 
The Ref Stop
PinnerPaul said:
We didn't get details of away team colours - away team knew what home team were wearing but still turned up in similar kit. Ref refused to play in kits as they were. Comp rules said away team change, but they didn't have a change strip. Home team refused to change but offered away team a spare kit - eventually away team agreed to wear that but only after acting like 8 year olds for about an hour - hence the late kick off!
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GraemeS said:
As the ref, I had a very similar situation last season - again in a Ladies match at a similar level, possibly even the same teams? Teams aren't always as good at communicating kit details as they should be.

Home team in blue, away team in the exact same shade of blue with some red detailing, both wearing all blue shorts and socks. Home team were furious as apparently they'd gone away to this team earlier in the season, hadn't been told there would be a clash and got a fine for starting the match late when they sent someone home to pick up their away kit, so they absolutely weren't changing. Away team were insistent it was the home team's responsibility to change and didn't have a spare kit with them anyway. After some back and forth, I got both manager together with around 30 minutes to kick off and told them they had 10 minutes to come up with a solution or we were going home.

Faced with this threat, it turned out the away team had grey training tops they hadn't thought to mention before. They then sent their captain to a local sports direct to pick up 10 pairs of white socks and I just made do with both teams in blue shorts. Not ideal, but good enough to get the match going.
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And I trust both of you reported them to the league for the kit clash and the late kick off - if you don't report, the committees cannot fine and deal with.
 
lincs22 said:
And I trust both of you reported them to the league for the kit clash and the late kick off - if you don't report, the committees cannot fine and deal with.
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I did, but it was a major pain to do so. No one could tell me who to report it to or how to report it, so I ended up just describing the incident in an email and hoping one of the people I sent it to was the right person!
 
I had a cup final 2 seasons ago. Both teams had black shorts and socks. It was in the match program and no one had picked up on it. Eventually we got a spare kit from the supply league team that was hosting the game and ended up kicking off on time.
 
What football expects..... Play the game..... and then claim any assists if they pass to you inadvertently!!!
 
So you wear unauthorised coloured kit on a county cup tie against the rules and you get caught; probably no more county cup games.
You refuse to play the game due to away team's kit and cause a rearranged match; good chance you won't get another county cup game.
Just play the game and submit a report afterwards.
 
PP62 said:
So you wear unauthorised coloured kit on a county cup tie against the rules and you get caught; probably no more county cup games.
You refuse to play the game due to away team's kit and cause a rearranged match; good chance you won't get another county cup game.
Just play the game and submit a report afterwards.
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Can I ask what you are reporting? You are reporting the colours clashed but you played the game anyway? That's an oxymoron and reflects shambolically on the referee.

If you are deeming the clash confusing enough to be worthy of report, you cant play the game
By playing the game, you, as referee, are deeming the colours to be ok, so, in that case, there is nothing to report.
by your reasoning, you would inspect a water logged park, deem it unplayable, but go ahead and play the game regardless!! Its exactly the same logic.
 
Not my understanding of the word oxymoron.
Yes, you can ask what I would be reporting; it would be the unauthorised kit by the away team.
I'm struggling to understand your refusal to accept that some County FAs in England will not allow referees to wear any other colour than black. Whether or not I agree with it is irrelevant but I won't be the one man on a mission to change it.
 
PP62 said:
Not my understanding of the word oxymoron.
Yes, you can ask what I would be reporting; it would be the unauthorised kit by the away team.
I'm struggling to understand your refusal to accept that some County FAs in England will not allow referees to wear any other colour than black. Whether or not I agree with it is irrelevant but I won't be the one man on a mission to change it.
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Well if the colours clashed, you can either play (which means as referee you are ok with the clash), or, you don't play.
To play would nullify any report that there was a problem with the kit
Just to clarify, am referring to the County Cup clash in a post above where 2 teams wore , or tried to wear the same colour
not (on this occasion) the referee
 
Home team in blue, away team in the exact same shade of blue with some red detailing, both wearing all blue shorts and socks
and
We didn't get details of away team colours - away team knew what home team were wearing but still turned up in similar kit


both these posts I have taken to be about two teams clashing,
 
PP62 said:
To be fair, the OP topic is regarding a team in red v a team in black with the officials in black.
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no doubts
but I was referring to 2 posts after that re teams clashing with each other

and for the record its an abomination the draconian instruction that refs in counties must wear black. However as nobody seems to have ever done anything about it, all must indeed be content with the status quo.
 
Here is the local news article...

Aside from a brilliant performance by Myles Roberts in the Reading goal on Tuesday night, there was one other talking point during the game.
It became apparent to all 1,100 plus supporters inside Larges Lane if not prior to kick, shortly after that both the match referee and the Royals were wearing all black kits.
Quite why Reading weren’t wearing a home kit for the match is anyone’s guess, but Football in Bracknell asked the County FA who provided the following response: “We are aware of the kit clash between Reading FC and the Match Officials at last night’s Senior Cup game at Bracknell Town.
“It is standard practice within all of our County Cups for Referees to wear black kits, but if we had been made aware prior to match day of a clash we would have made necessary arrangements, however on this occasion, unfortunately, the Match Officials were not made aware of a kit clash with Reading FC until shortly before the game when it became apparent.”
See our full gallery of Neil Graham images from Bracknell vs Reading here:

“The alternatives discussed on the evening were, through nobody’s fault, not appropriate for the Officials or Reading FC, so it was decided by all that they would play with the kits that Reading and the Match Officials had.
“We are satisfied that it did not have a detrimental impact on what was an enjoyable cup game, or on the performances of the players and Match Officials.
“It is fantastic to have Reading FC back in the competition, and we hope that this issue does not deflect from what was an excellent evening of football and a great occasion.”
 
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