The Ref Stop

Team colours

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The Ref Stop
If it is an ESFA or ISFA ( the two main bodies that run schools football) there will not be any competition rules precluding teams from wearing black. In my County, there are no rules re kit colour for the schools County Cup, if it is just an inter school game (I.e. a friendly just organised between the two schools) there will be no competition rules.

So the common theme is, if it is a school game, teams may wear black, and be prepared (not only have I occasionally worn my yellow shirt, I have also loaned it out to visiting refs when required.).

Most school will play in their “PE” kit, bought by the pupils (parents), in some schools this is black. They will not have a change kit. This is school, not club, football- there is a subtle difference.
 
Its really not complicated to find a lumi yellow t shirt online for a fiver (if u are going to end up in a bib anyway)
Or a cheap alternative ref top for 15 quid
You might never use it, but surely its practical
Whats folks take on boots, you only carry the one pair? You ask beforehand or know from knowledge or expect to be told what surface you are on?
Foolish, things do change, and you will one day turn up to game to find its been switched to astro/to grass. Am surprised its not been a post yet.
"Was told grass so turned up with my boots only to find was switched to astro which meant I could not referee"

Be prepred!! Fail to prepare? Prepare to fail
 
As I'm sure everyone on this thread knows, there is NO requirement for referees working in English to have a second colour when refereeing affiliated football. Some counties allow it, but it's still specifically optional rather than a requirement. Teams not having black kits is usually enshrined in competition rules and teams are fully aware of this, even if they sometimes pretend otherwise. I suspect this is the case for school football as well, the teacher in the OP is probably used to having this argument every time they employ a referee - and by not informing you in advance, is probably deliberately being a dick and should be treated as such IMO!
 
GraemeS said:
As I'm sure everyone on this thread knows, there is NO requirement for referees working in English to have a second colour when refereeing affiliated football. Some counties allow it, but it's still specifically optional rather than a requirement. Teams not having black kits is usually enshrined in competition rules and teams are fully aware of this, even if they sometimes pretend otherwise. I suspect this is the case for school football as well, the teacher in the OP is probably used to having this argument every time they employ a referee - and by not informing you in advance, is probably deliberately being a dick and should be treated as such IMO!
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Why not carry a diff colour and thats that. Game is not about us. We service the game. Not the other way round. Its not illegal to carry a yellow top in your bag.
Some would say its proactive. Sensible

But we cant have that, can we.....
 
GraemeS said:
As I'm sure everyone on this thread knows, there is NO requirement for referees working in English to have a second colour when refereeing affiliated football. Some counties allow it, but it's still specifically optional rather than a requirement. Teams not having black kits is usually enshrined in competition rules and teams are fully aware of this, even if they sometimes pretend otherwise. I suspect this is the case for school football as well, the teacher in the OP is probably used to having this argument every time they employ a referee - and by not informing you in advance, is probably deliberately being a dick and should be treated as such IMO!
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Some schools will have dedicated people to organise school sports. Particularly the posh ones! However, my local schools football was organised by supply teachers and admin workers. By the age of 15/16 we were told of the fixtures about 2 days before and also told what time the bus would puck us up if we were away. We'd usually be accompanied by supply teachers, some of which didnt even like or understand football and the team was picked by the players. We played in a kit that must have been 20 years old and was whatever colour we were given.

The chances of informing a ref in advance of anything was just about zero. You'd just be happy if one turned up.
 
I do a lot of schools footy these days and I echo the above, they seem near shocked a proper ref is there, far less one who has taken the consideration to wrar a suitable top.

Small things..
 
School local to me, state comprehensive, got some good players, play in the County Cup and also enter ESFA cup competitions. Their PE kit (based on school colours) is predominantly black. The kit is bought by the parents and worn by the students for their PE lessons, and when they play fixtures. They do not have a separate kit. They play fixtures “out of school hours” i.e. these boys get to play these games because their teachers (typically, but not exclusively, PE teachers) willingly take the teams after school, when they don’t have to.

As I said in an earlier post, competition rules make no mention of not wearing black shirts. (Link to competition rules, see section 10: https://schoolsfootball.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Section-5-Competitions.pdf )

If we (referees, or anyone) are going to put in barriers to playing, these games just won’t happen, which would be a shame. I really don’t think the teacher in the OP, or any other teacher is “deliberately being a dick” - on the contrary, I’d say they are going above and beyond to give their students a game of football, and a school afternoon that they will remember long after they’ve forgotten my lesson on Pythagoras’ Theorem.
 
I've done both.

I've swallowed my pride and wore a bib, on a typical Sunday league game where one team wore black hirts (That's before coloured shirts were allowed in our league). I did this, as neither team had a change of colours...and to be honest, i'd rather see the numbers on the back of their shirts than blank bibs.

I was appointed to ref a cup final, and my pride kicked in and I refused to wear a bib. One team had very dark blue shirts, and we were certain they would clash with black under the floodlights. Although they weren't overly pleased, they wore their away kit. I reminded them that the league rules did actually state no blue or dark coloured kits should be worn, so I was happy to stand my ground on that occasion.
 
Ciley Myrus said:
Why not carry a diff colour and thats that. Game is not about us. We service the game. Not the other way round. Its not illegal to carry a yellow top in your bag.
Some would say its proactive. Sensible

But we cant have that, can we.....
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I'd thank you not to start all this again. Nothing I wrote is factually incorrect - and you know that because we've had this discussion before. Rules may be different where you are, but down here they're very clear: we should expect to turn up in black and not have any issues. Alternate colours (and certainly anything other than the official county-sanctioned alternate colour) is not something English FA referees are entitled to take into their own hands - and yes, while it's not "illegal", it is certainly something that would not go down well if your CFA hears about it.

My local Sunday league manages to be prepared for refs to turn up in black and their funding and organisation is going to be minimal compared to even the most threadbare school sports system. And while I appreciate the PE teacher/sports organiser may have their hands tied with regards to the colour of PE kit their school buys, where that's the case I struggle to believe that 6 months into the school year this is the first time a referee has turned up expecting to wear black.

I don't think it's unfair to expect to be warned at least - a ref might be perfectly happy to ref in any old shirt, but if they're not told in advance then they shouldn't be expected to have one in their bag ready to go.
 
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GraemeS said:
it is certainly something that would not go down well if your CFA hears about it.
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My CFA told me to treat the situation the same as playing without corner flags (RDO off the record at an RA meeting)
I carry a FAMOA badged yellow polo shirt because I've had three incidents in two and half years
Below step 7, common sense, game on
 
Richard smith said:
Why is a team wearing black stupid ???

Surely a referee without alternate colours is stupid, or is that just me??
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"Stupid" was probably a bit strong but at the end of the day, referees generally wear black.

If you purchase a black strip as your home kit then you're practically always going to clash with the referee. This means that for every match, the referee is going to be obliged to wear a bib. That, to me, is at least bordering on "stupid".

Few County FA's permit the wearing of a non-black referee kit (mine included) and so the referee has little or no choice of what colour kit he wears. A football team's secretary/coach/whatever does. Why would you give the thumbs up to a strip that you know is (99% of the time) going to clash with the referee's?

Edit: I assume you're talking about grass roots football in general and not schools. @RefJef has already pointed out that schools don't actually come under the "FA Banner" in a sense. For the record, if refereeing a school match where my black kit clashed with one of the teams, I'd simply take the pragmatic approach and wear a bib as I have done on several occasions (not, I might add because one team had black, but because the other team's away kit was a quite dark blue ;) ).
 
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In my part of Scotland there used to be one or two teams that had black as their 1st kit
Did not cause me any issues as I had 3 coloured tops at the time (Red, Yellow and Black)
I am not aware of any rule or regulation up here that prevents a team wearing black. I am sure I shall be corrected if my last statement is incorrect
 
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