The Ref Stop

Potential kit clash - advice

T

TSHudson

Active Member
Level 6 Referee
So my two teams for Saturday are bouncing emails back and forth about a kit clash. Home team is blue and white stripes (Sheff Wed), away team is black and white stripes (Juve). I've already said I think this is going to be a clash and one team needs to change to a second kit, but they're both making excuses and don't seem willing to change. They seem to think the black and light blue stripes is enough of a difference, forgetting they both have identical have white stripes!

Perhaps at the start of the game it might look OK, but as the light fades, I imagine it's only going to get worse. So if I start, can I abandon the game at any point for a kit clash later on if it does get worse due to the light? Or best just to not start if I think it might be a problem at any point? I keep insisting one changes to a second kit, even the home team if needs be.
 
Last edited:
The Ref Stop
TSHudson said:
So my two teams for Saturday are bouncing emails back and forth about a kit clash. Home team is black and white stripes (Juve), away team is blue and white stripes (Sheff Wed). I've already said I think this is going to be a clash and one team needs to change to a second kit, but they're both making excuses and don't seem willing to change. They seem to think the black and light blue stripes is enough of a difference, forgetting they both have identical have white stripes!

Perhaps at the start of the game it might look OK, but as the light fades, I imagine it's only going to get worse. So if I start, can I abandon the game at any point for a kit clash later on if it does get worse due to the light? Or best just to not start if I think it might be a problem at any point? I keep insisting one changes to a second kit, even the home team if needs be.
Click to expand...

Report the dispute to the League Sec - let them solve. As it will be under the SCOR, it says "If, in the opinion of the referee, " so whatever the clubs say it is your decision. As you think there is a clash - get the League to make a decision. The other option is if the team (which is mandated in the league rules to change) doesn't - ABANDON, don't even start. The league will have to back you up.
 
Below the 4th tier (small PUKKI PARTY Nordic country) we go bibs if any probs and deal with the inevitable pain of wrong numbers on bibs.

We have a sliding scale of kit requirements so e.g. matching undershorts only in top divs, sock clash allowed lower down the pyramid etc. Very rare a team would be reported for a kit problem but happens.
 
santa sangria said:
Below the 4th tier (small PUKKI PARTY Nordic country) we go bibs if any probs and deal with the inevitable pain of wrong numbers on bibs.

We have a sliding scale of kit requirements so e.g. matching undershorts only in top divs, sock clash allowed lower down the pyramid etc. Very rare a team would be reported for a kit problem but happens.
Click to expand...
That's incredibly sensible, can you try and convince England to consider formalising something like this!
 
GraemeS said:
That's incredibly sensible, can you try and convince England to consider formalising something like this!
Click to expand...
A bit of sensible thinking would be nice wouldn't it! I was told by an FA a while back (I've moved since) that if a team kit clashed with the referee, I had to abandon the game. I said I was very happy to wear a training bib / coloured top if a teams dark blue looked too much like black, but nope, apparently games needed to be abandoned. So a Saturday pub team, travelling an hour each way to get to a game, doesn't get to play football because of some pedant rule? Thankfully the league I'm in now allows referees to wear other colours instead of just black.
 
TSHudson said:
A bit of sensible thinking would be nice wouldn't it! I was told by an FA a while back (I've moved since) that if a team kit clashed with the referee, I had to abandon the game. I said I was very happy to wear a training bib / coloured top if a teams dark blue looked too much like black, but nope, apparently games needed to be abandoned. So a Saturday pub team, travelling an hour each way to get to a game, doesn't get to play football because of some pedant rule? Thankfully the league I'm in now allows referees to wear other colours instead of just black.
Click to expand...
Haha, I'm going to immediately disagree with you (and by extention myself!) here - I think there are good and sensible reasons to reserve black for referees, not least that it makes it cheaper for referees to start up if they only have to buy one colour kit. And it's not that hard to avoid black and dark blues when picking your team kit.

Abandoning the match does seem excessive, so there is a sensible middle ground somewhere (play the game with a bib but report and fine the club perhaps?), but I don't think that should be grouped in the same bracket as sock tape!
 
Bibs are a no-no.

Threaten to abandon the game, and they will miraculously find a spare kit of a different colour. If they don't, no skin off your nose.
 
TSHudson said:
A bit of sensible thinking would be nice wouldn't it! I was told by an FA a while back (I've moved since) that if a team kit clashed with the referee, I had to abandon the game. I said I was very happy to wear a training bib / coloured top if a teams dark blue looked too much like black, but nope, apparently games needed to be abandoned. So a Saturday pub team, travelling an hour each way to get to a game, doesn't get to play football because of some pedant rule? Thankfully the league I'm in now allows referees to wear other colours instead of just black.
Click to expand...

One of my first open age games in the middle had a kit clash with my black kit, I opted to wear the yellow top I'd bought off my own back and used my common sense to get the game played.

Found out after that I shouldn't have worn it, not sure if I'd do the same again.

But it's really annoying that the leagues I officiate in don't allow different coloured tops if needed.
 
GraemeS said:
Haha, I'm going to immediately disagree with you (and by extention myself!) here - I think there are good and sensible reasons to reserve black for referees, not least that it makes it cheaper for referees to start up if they only have to buy one colour kit. And it's not that hard to avoid black and dark blues when picking your team kit.

Abandoning the match does seem excessive, so there is a sensible middle ground somewhere (play the game with a bib but report and fine the club perhaps?), but I don't think that should be grouped in the same bracket as sock tape!
Click to expand...
I have decided that I will always wear black. In my leagues, it's the only allowed colour anyway. I had a school team turn up in black once, i had to wear a bib as the schools league rules allow it.
 
In the league I most recently did team managing for (3rd tier in Australia, so kit-boy is more like it), we had to provide the association with a First and Second kit, and they would mandate to us 2-3 days earlier what to wear, along with what the referees would wear.. Some solutions included mixing-matching socks/shorts from the away kit, or in (one) extreme cases, both teams would be forced to wear their away kit.
 
RobOda said:
Bibs are a no-no.

Threaten to abandon the game, and they will miraculously find a spare kit of a different colour. If they don't, no skin off your nose.
Click to expand...

Yep - mentioned this before - was on a Women's 4th tier game - away team turned up with only 1 kit that clashed with home side's kit. Home team offered them their 2nd kit which they refused until ref threatened to abandon when lo and behold , after much angst and general silliness, they eventually relented.
 
In the US we have the flip issue--five different colors. (yellow, red, blue, green, black). Yellow is officially the primary color that all refs should have, but there is pressure past a newbie to get all five. So with long and short sleeves, that makes 10 different shirts for the fully equipped referee. (And they change the design every 5-6 years.)
 
socal lurker said:
In the US we have the flip issue--five different colors. (yellow, red, blue, green, black). Yellow is officially the primary color that all refs should have, but there is pressure past a newbie to get all five. So with long and short sleeves, that makes 10 different shirts for the fully equipped referee. (And they change the design every 5-6 years.)
Click to expand...

Why is there a pressure? So that you don't cause an issue for the teams on match day? Seem a a bit of an odd situation.
Strange circumstance a month ago. Referee turned up and didn't have his black top - it had been soaked by rain in this early morning game and had gone in the wash. His other tops were yellow and maroon - home team were in maroon and away in yellow!
 
afronaut81 said:
Why is there a pressure?
Click to expand...

There are far fewer one-man games here than I gather over there. So a lot of the pressure is peer pressure to give the team all the options--since there is no official second color, if refs have 2 or 3 of the additional colors, there is no guarantee all three will have the same color other than yellow. (And there is still a lurking concern that some here have that it is horrible to wear different sleeve lengths--there is an old school group in the US that says it looks "unprofessional." :rolleyes: Not sure what they think that means since the professionals frequently wear different sleeve lengths.)
 
In most grassroots games when I have AR (or am AR) we can match colours but occasionally R one colour and both AR's another dissent look too bad either. Have never heard a player or manager say anything about ref team wearing different colours as long as it doesn't clash with players.

Also on many occasions I have had young junior AR's wanting to look professional with a short sleeve jersey the same colour as mine shivering in the change room before the game. I insisted they put on a jumper/jacket to keep warm. Be safe first, and I want your mind concentrating on the game and not on how cold you are.
 
one said:
In most grassroots games when I have AR (or am AR) we can match colours but occasionally R one colour and both AR's another dissent look too bad either. Have never heard a player or manager say anything about ref team wearing different colours as long as it doesn't clash with players.

Also on many occasions I have had young junior AR's wanting to look professional with a short sleeve jersey the same colour as mine shivering in the change room before the game. I insisted they put on a jumper/jacket to keep warm. Be safe first, and I want your mind concentrating on the game and not on how cold you are.
Click to expand...
I have never seen that before in 15 years. But, also don't see the problem haha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top