The Ref Stop

Goalkeepers Shirt Colour

GraemeS said:
I've just been sent the same questionnaire and have registered my major opposition to the change as well as I could. I don't see the benefit of making referees buy more and more equipment and I worry that it could easily put off new referees who's "starting cost" will jump by at least £50 per additional colour.

Restricting black to referees is a good compromise and should be enforced at the highest level possible, not wound back further down.
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pretty much what i put too @GraemeS, those youngsters starting out may be put off if they feel they have to spend hundreds on kit that clubs will inevitably have the expectation to be able to put pressure on officials to have at their disposal
 
The Ref Stop
You should re-read the questions - no one is proposing to make the referee do anything. It is just asking if you would like to be allowed to wear non-black. I can't see why that is an issue, the referee has a choice.

You should be answering for yourself, not others. It is up to these youngsters to say they don't want it or can't afford it, rather than you doing it on their behalf. You also had the option to say on what competitions you would support it, so you could have said no to grassroots but yes to Contrib and Supply League for example (using the Other section on theat question).

For what it's worth, I did say it should be limited to black and one other colour only and that the kit would ideally be subsidised in some way. For me, it is a massive retrograde step to say that all football from Contrib down should stick with all-black forever. Play under floodlights at Supply League and it's a huge problem seeing the officials.
 
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DanCohen17 said:
False. PL & FL teams are only required to designate 2 GK colours before the start of the season, regardless of whether they designate three for the outfield players.
As I've mentioned here before, the order for choice of colours is;
Home team
Away team
Home GK
Away GK
Referee

If all four colours of PGMO are taken, the referee is to clash with one of the GK's.

In the PL, colours are set out in the build up to the game, and only if the referee on the day deems a colour clash, would anything change. I recall Howard Webb & team changing one game when it was felt on the day his colour shirt was too similar to one of the team's, so he changed.
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Dan I have seen "my" team's GK play in more than 3 colours this season already and we're not even halfway through the season yet.

Last season I saw Robert Green wear an amazing dayglo yellow top, which clashed perfectly with the officials on the day - AND I never saw him wear that kit again!

Come on - it can't be that difficult.

Rusty says refs get told what to wear - I get told what to wear - black - so if any player is also wearing black we are told to get THEM to change - why doesn't that happen in the FL & PL?

I'm not accepting lack of available kit as an answer!
 
fair enough @Monotone Whistle , i did answer from my perspective as far as the options were concerned, its just i added a bit at the end in the additional notes... quite possibly erroneously or even completely uncalled for, was just thinking aloud at the time... i'm sure it will get filed appropriately ! :)
 
Andy A said:
And there lies the problem, because they get away with it on the 'telly football', players think they can get away with it on 'parks' football. And I'm talking about all aspects of reffing here, not just colour clasing.

Like when Mr Rooney gets away with telling a ref to f**k off, but then we get dog's abuse if we deal the red card on Sunday morning's.
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Exactly - difficult to come up with an answer to "So its OK for PL refs to wear same colour as goalkeeper, but you won't let me wear white sock tape on my blue socks"

Of course there are differences between PL and parks football - foul tolerance/strength is an obvious one - but this is basic and in a multi million pound industry easily complied with.
 
Monotone Whistle said:
You should re-read the questions - no one is proposing to make the referee do anything. It is just asking if you would like to be allowed to wear non-black. I can't see why that is an issue, the referee has a choice.

You should be answering for yourself, not others. It is up to these youngsters to say they don't want it or can't afford it, rather than you doing it on their behalf. You also had the option to say on what competitions you would support it, so you could have said no to grassroots but yes to Contrib and Supply League for example (using the Other section on theat question).

For what it's worth, I did say it should be limited to black and one other colour only and that the kit would ideally be subsidised in some way. For me, it is a massive retrograde step to say that all football from Contrib down should stick with all-black forever. Play under floodlights at Supply League and it's a huge problem seeing the officials.
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My opinion is that black makes it easy - referees only have to buy one colour of top, clubs should know that they can't pick black in their kit and everyone is happy. As soon as referees have the option of turning up in yellow, I very strongly suspect that clubs will be granted the option of having mainly black/dark-blue kits, which will make a second kit for officials all-but-mandatory anyway.

EDIT: And frankly, I don't see how one coloured kit would help. If black becomes an allowed team kit colour, there's every chance of turning up at a match of black vs (say) yellow - both of which would be allowed and both of which would clash. You'd NEED 3 possible referee colours as a minimum, and that's assuming you'll be OK with clashing with a keeper. The alternative is that the additional colour becomes a protected colour as well - which will annoy teams and make no difference to me as I'll continue to turn up in black.

And I think I'm perfectly entitled to consider the good of the game as a whole in my answer if I want to. I have no desire to wear any other colour really, so therefore MY opinion is that it's a bad idea with no real benefits. In part because I'm perfectly happy buying a single kit every few years and in part because I think that would be offputting to new referees, who I would generally like to encourage to stick with it.
 
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Stick to black I say. Nothing looks messier than non matching kits. The addidas/Nike/UHL sport clashes are bad enough, to add some rainbow colours will be awful. Unless the FA fund up Contrib and Supply league officials with kits at the start of each season then I'll just need a bigger bag
 
I was reffing in Regents Park on Sunday afternoon and on the pitch next to my game there was an open-age men's game with one team in black. The referee was wearing a bright yellow bib.

After the game I asked one of the players what league they were in and he said 'The London Sunday Premier League'. I haven't been able to find that league or anything like it.
 
I think people are misunderstanding what the FA consultation involves. There are three specific questions ...

1. Should referees (and assistant referees) be permitted to wear coloured referee shirts in all competitions?
2. Should referees (and assistant referees) be permitted to wear coloured referee shirts only in competitions which permit teams to play in dark blue and/or black shirts?
3. If coloured shirts are limited to those competitions where the CFA allows dark blue/black playing kit, how should the coloured referee shirts be provided:
a. The competition provides each referee (and assistant referee where appropriate) with the shirts?
b. The competition adds a small sum (e.g. £1) to the match fee as a contribution towards the cost of the shirts which will then be purchased by the referee (and assistant where appropriate)?​

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What is unclear is if option 1 is voted for, will this just allow referees to wear coloured shirts but not allow clubs to wear black or dark blue, or both of these. If the latter it is going to cost referees a lot of money, and the proposal does make it clear that referees would be required to buy several coloured shirts. It also calls out the need to have assistant referees in the same colour as the referee, so for leagues that routinely use 3 officials on games that is only really going to work with option 2 / 3a, where the league provide the kits so everyone gets the same colour. If they went with option 1 or 2/3b they would have to mandate a specific kit manufacturer, otherwise you'd have some in Nike, some in Adidas, etc.

3b Strikes me as a ridiculous - if you are having to buy 4 or 5 shirts you are going to have to referee a lot of games to recoup the cost if £1 is added to the fee. You're talking 150 to 200 games ..!!

Strikes me as a bit like Brexit this - change sounds good on the face of it but it potentially ends up costing you a whole lot more money and leaves you worse off financially ...:)

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Trip said:
I was reffing in Regents Park on Sunday afternoon and on the pitch next to my game there was an open-age men's game with one team in black. The referee was wearing a bright yellow bib.

After the game I asked one of the players what league they were in and he said 'The London Sunday Premier League'. I haven't been able to find that league or anything like it.
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I would put money on it being the Musical Associations League. Unless it has changed recently they are unaffiliated so don't have to abide by the no black kit rule. The referees who do these games are generally money hunters who will stand in the centre circle all game. I actually know one who described himself as a "professional referee" - not because he is any good, but rather he referees for a living and does several hundred games a season (presumably without declaring it as earnings).
 
You lot are boring. :p

Every other country in the world now has coloured kits, we should be following suit. Like i said earlier, and as per the consultation, it is just being allowed to wear non-black. If as a ref you rock up at a game and you only have black, then that is what you wear, no one is forcing the ref to buy more than one kit.

My response to this consult was that any changes should apply to Supply League and above only, as at that level you have to buy badged kit anyway, but being allowed to wear non-black is hardly a big change. No one wants young kids buying coloured shirts just for an U11 game, but if it attracts them to refereeing then why not?
 
I've not been sent this, but I think that restricting referees to only wear black below a certain level is a bit old fashioned, and while I understand concerns over the cost etc, I would be all for having the choice of the colour of shirt I wear.

Don't the SFA allow referees to wear colours other than black, for those north of the border how does it work out?

I guess the FA could set a rule where by they set 3 colours we could wear, black, yellow, and that purpley one for example, and say that the colours will not change for 3 seasons or something.

It would reduce the amount of money spent, and would guru tee that when working in a team everyone will have the right colour.

The only problem would be that everyone would have to wear the same make of shirt, which old probably mean everyone in England being forced to buy Nike
 
bester said:
Is there an option to allow kits black kits with coloured piping?
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We've pretty much changed the topic of the thread here!

I also filled in the questionnaire. I went for keeping all black, I don't want the scenario where you've got the three officials in completely different kits all because one team wears navy blue / black. Now, even with nike / umbro / another make of black ref kit (white trim / all black) etc. it always looks consistent (enough).

If coloured kits are allowed this wont happen. The three officials might not have the same coloured kits, one's got red, another purple or blue and green, It'll look messy and for what reason? So clubs can wear black? I don't think it's worth it.

As has been mentioned above, the additional cost of purchasing kits could easily put new refs off / cause some to pack it in. Even one new kit will set you back £40 (assuming we can still get away with black shorts and socks).

The only way this works IMO is if the clubs each have to purchase coloured kits (if they choose to play in black / navy) for the officials to wear. This will mean an XL, L, M and ladies sizes for each colour top needed (probably more than one in case the opposition turn up in the same colour as the refs tops!).
 
Understood, but again this misses the actual key point of the questionnaire - it asks if you would like to be permitted to wear another colour.

It doesn't say you have to, must, will be forced to, etc. In 2 options of Q3 it says black is the over-riding primary choice for most games. So in your scenario above, the three officials just wear black as they don't match on any other colour. I struggle to understand how we reach a conclusion that all three officials are wearing different colours when clearly they will all have a black kit anyway.

People seem to be extrapolating a generic 'option' into something they have to do when that's clearly not the intention. Don't want the kit, fine keep in black. But you have the choice.

And on another point, I think non-black will actually attract youngsters to the game.
 
But all three won't be able to wear black if one of the opposition is as well!

And if the other team is wearing yellow that rules out one of the other refs colours...

Sure it's all ifs and buts, but right now we all know where we stand, we just need to clubs to be prevented from wearing predominantly navy or black kits and there won't be a problem at all!
 
I think it's a great debate, and we all know that eventually this will get implemented. It's just whether it is this season or next, and you're right there are lots of details to sort out. It's a shame the questionnaire doesn't offer more options as I think this should be more detailed to include what levels it applies to, how the kits would be funded etc.

The next great debate is going to be about referees wearing shirt and ties to matches, I know the FA are looking at this on Supply and Contrib Leagues. But that's a whole new can of worms.
 
Monotone Whistle said:
I think it's a great debate, and we all know that eventually this will get implemented. It's just whether it is this season or next, and you're right there are lots of details to sort out. It's a shame the questionnaire doesn't offer more options as I think this should be more detailed to include what levels it applies to, how the kits would be funded etc.

The next great debate is going to be about referees wearing shirt and ties to matches, I know the FA are looking at this on Supply and Contrib Leagues. But that's a whole new can of worms.
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Yep, you're not wrong, it will!

I for one don't mind wearing shirt and ties to games, thinks it sets us apart nicely from the players...but save that debate for another time!
 
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