The Ref Stop

Non-black ref shirts at grassroots

On a cold grey overcast Saturday morning I was reffing whites vs Dark Blues. They have played in this kit for over 25 years. White player says to me Ref I keep marking you as it looks like you are in the same shirts as them. They also have blue shorts and socks. This is youth football grassroots what do you do?
Spirit of the game I wore a bib(and ordered a nice orange shirt when I got home adidas £10 ) Now I know there are some of you recoiling at this and I understand if you are going for promotion you do not have this option, but I thought common sense prevailed, and I have seen a higher level ref do the same thing. I will do this again if required and have done. I always choose to wear black and prefer to wear black but if needed I would get my spare out. If my RDO questioned me about this I would tell him my reasons. If I get into trouble then so be it but I think at grass roots this is surely the way to go. It only comes into affect winter afternoons and very dark overcast mornings normally the distinction between blue and black is fine.
Putting my helmet on now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The Ref Stop
At grass roots they should know they can't wear black. If they play in "dark blue" every week, they should be used to refs turning up in black and either learn to work around it, or change their kit. I understand "practical" refereeing, but at the same time, they could have been practical in the first place and picked any other colour under the rainbow in order to avoid an issue they should have known was going to occur.

I sympathise with the idea of trying to help the game go on, but I don't understand why I should be forced to adjust to a team's mistake. During a match I don't disallow a goal because a defender made a mistake!
 
GraemeS said:
Interesting, but a complete tangent. Name one person currently working for the FA that was working for the FA on the 5th December 1921?
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I'm sure a few of them were examiners when I did my course all those years ago... Point is, they are stuck in old ways and are all resilient to change. Weren't the government telling them to become more representing of the UK population recently?? More women, more black and ethnic representation etc! Has anything changed since??? NO!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...gaffe-prone-chief-executive-Martin-Glenn.html
 
^^^^^

I’m with @Tino Best on this.

A very similar tale - I was ref-in a game, home team played in navy blue, I’d ref-ed this side a number of times before, but this time the game was under lights, at the local “stadium”.

It was an U16 game, a real experience for the players, playing a game under lights, but the away team we’re struggling to distinguish me from the opposition. (Secretly I was delighted - it’s a long, long time since anyone confused me for a sixteen year old!)

I did the sensible thing, put a bib on, and carried on with the game. It was a great game (home team won 1-0) as I was walking off, I heard a spectator from the stand(!) say to one of the managers: “great game, Jon. I really enjoyed that.” I suspect that most of the players, and many of the thirty or so spectators still remember the game. I bet I’m the only one who remembers I had to put a bib on.
 
Sheffields Finest said:
I'm sure a few of them were examiners when I did my course all those years ago... Point is, they are stuck in old ways and are all resilient to change. Weren't the government telling them to become more representing of the UK population recently?? More women, more black and ethnic representation etc! Has anything changed since??? NO!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...gaffe-prone-chief-executive-Martin-Glenn.html
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But I don't see what relevance a decision made by the FA in 1921 has to do with today's executives. Without feeling the need to click on a link to that hateful "newspaper", I'm sure you can come up with a slightly more relevant and recent example?
 
Padfoot said:
The problem in England is that, as always, the FA completely bottled out of making a strong decision about changing their regulations to allow non black shirts......instead they fudged it by leaving it down to each CFA to make the decision.

As most CFAs have to dust off the relics that form their committees, we got the expected mixed bag of results. Some CFAs allowed non black shirts, but many simply couldn’t handle the thought of change (having only just recently accepted that women are now allowed to vote etc) and poo poo’d the whole idea, telling us it was for our own good etc.
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I don't think it is an age thing. At the time we had a very young RefsComm in comparison to others, with more people in their 20s and 30s than those over 50, and the proposal to allow a different colour was still rejected by a large margin.

If the FA had chosen a colour, rather than allowing each CFA to choose one, I would have supported it, but they didn't. That would have caused a massive problem for London referees as they could officiate on games in London, Surrey, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Essex or Kent. Let's say London chose yellow, Middx blue, Herts red, Surrey orange, and so on, teams of three would never have the same kit so would have ended up wearing black anyway.
 
New refs in France are advised to get black and yellow shirts. When there is a trio every ref has black or yellow to wear.

As time goes on each ref gets other colours, so there is never a problem.

As this from an English referee who was staunch black shirt supporter!
 
GraemeS said:
I honestly don't care what the colour is, but I like the simplicity of only having to have a single shirt ready. If my CFA decided that the one and only colour I can wear is flourescent green, yellow and pink tartan, that's what I'd wear. If they told me I'm now expected to turn up with a range of 5 shirts with matching shorts, socks and undershirts, then I'd be kicking off and sending some very unhappy emails!
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In my bag right now: Patrick yel, grn, blk, each with matching sks/shrts, and new Nike blk, blu with one sks/shrts. In the drawer, old Adidas blu, red, yel, mdnite, spare yellow, 2 shrts, various sks.

I took all 10 to a foreign tournament. Used 9. Thought I might be a nutter, but my roomy also had 10 shirts!

I am not advocating this approach and it doesn’t make me big or clever. But it’s amazing what happens in places with “colours” when the supplier changes a few times!

Do also frequently lend items to newer refs. My AR at the weekend was a young footballer with one very holey pair of socks. Yes, I bailed him out for our game;)
 
Been away so catching up with the forums... @Ciley Myrus you miss the crux of the issue completely. CFA's / leagues specify teams cannot play in black, and referees must only wear black. The outcome of this is that all referees have a kit that should be guaranteed to distinguish them from the teams playing. If the teams break the rules, how many spare shirts of different colours should a referee have in their kit bag? Should they have to go out and buy all of the available colours, to ensure that they don't clash with a team if one of them is wearing black? Blue shirt clashes with blue home team. Yellow shirt clashes with away keeper. Gotta go green today...

The rule is very simple, and it minimises the costs for referees. The fact that some clubs / teams believe they can flout this rule means they shouldn't be surprised when it comes back to bite them.
 
xPositor said:
Been away so catching up with the forums... @Ciley Myrus you miss the crux of the issue completely. CFA's / leagues specify teams cannot play in black, and referees must only wear black. The outcome of this is that all referees have a kit that should be guaranteed to distinguish them from the teams playing. If the teams break the rules, how many spare shirts of different colours should a referee have in their kit bag? Should they have to go out and buy all of the available colours, to ensure that they don't clash with a team if one of them is wearing black? Blue shirt clashes with blue home team. Yellow shirt clashes with away keeper. Gotta go green today...

The rule is very simple, and it minimises the costs for referees. The fact that some clubs / teams believe they can flout this rule means they shouldn't be surprised when it comes back to bite them.
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No I follow it perfectly. My issue is and was, life evolves, nothing should stay still forever, I do understand the league rules but I dont understand why folk are happy to be dictated to in this manner. If refereeing is a hobby and you cant afford to do it, then you cant afford to do it, same as any other hobby.
 
All I will say on the subject is that a local club to me has now decided that it will not wear black any longer, negating the need for them to organise alternative shirts for the refereeing teams.
 
Ciley Myrus said:
No I follow it perfectly. My issue is and was, life evolves, nothing should stay still forever, I do understand the league rules but I dont understand why folk are happy to be dictated to in this manner. If refereeing is a hobby and you cant afford to do it, then you cant afford to do it, same as any other hobby.
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Agree and disagree.

Refereeing is a hobby.

Football can't afford to reject those who would like to take up the hobby but can't because they can't financially afford the equipment, especially at grassroots. When possible, remove obstacles through regulations.
 
At grassroots all teams have an away shirt and most carry a set of bibs from their annual practice. I think it’s common sense and quite proportional for refs to do similar.

In some countries participation in teams/leagues is also as important as ref participation.

And, back to a country where refs where colours, it’s not a big deal for the youngest and newest refs from all backgrounds (and we have a lot of disadvantaged) to get their second shirt (was yellow usually) when they got the first (black/blue) for free from our enlightened regime for completing their course. :)
 
I asked a certain World Cup Final Assistant about this tother day and he was of the opinion that in the absence of any alternative, it's better for the ref to change colour than to abandon the game
 
I agree with your point re evolution, I couldn't possible disagree more with your final sentence.



QUOTE="Ciley Myrus, post: 124560, member: 2630"]No I follow it perfectly. My issue is and was, life evolves, nothing should stay still forever, I do understand the league rules but I dont understand why folk are happy to be dictated to in this manner. If refereeing is a hobby and you cant afford to do it, then you cant afford to do it, same as any other hobby.[/QUOTE]
 
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