I have had one of the most bizarre games in my entire career today. Division 1 U12 game, home side wear royal blue (shirt, shorts, and socks), and the away team appear with a dark purple kit (well, the socks were white). I could only realise this some 40 minutes before KO, and dealing with this eventual yput me between a rock and a hard place.
The thing is that I arrived to the facilities one hour before KO, and the first thing I am told is that all previous games on that ground had been abandoned because of the rainwater on the field. This asked for an exhaustive inspection, so as to be positive that player’s safety wouldn’t be endangered. So did I, and this took me almost 20 minutes. No sooner had I finished the inspection than I summoned the club officials for the equipment checks. Then, they told me that they haven’t brough the away kit nor did they have a set of numbered bibs (this solution is ok for this league). The home team are unable to go each player to his own home and bring the alternative shirts, so the only solution for the game to be played is that the away officials go to their ground and bring the away kit.
However, as KO time looms on us, I’m told by the away coach that the kits are still under way, and they are expected to need some 15 minutes. That’s more than the time I have, as other games are scheduled after mine. He then brings about this solution: they have used white warm-up shirts, and they propose making numbers on them with a permanent marker (you know, they’re not always so permanent when there’s water around), and they change to the away kit at the earliest convenient opportunity.
I accept, starting some 10 minutes late. To be honest, it didn’t cause any trouble, and I think that, as it didn’t rain at all during the game, we could have played this way all the game -however, I’m not so sure what would have been the situation with more rain. The alternative kits arrived 5 minutes into the game, and a home player needed assistance at that moment. They required my permission to change their kits at that moment, and no more than one minute after the game restarted, now with a good kit of shirts properly numbered.
Note that the numbers of both kits coincided, and I used extra zeal when dealing with incidents after the change. No card, subs, or goal had happened by that time.
The thing is that I arrived to the facilities one hour before KO, and the first thing I am told is that all previous games on that ground had been abandoned because of the rainwater on the field. This asked for an exhaustive inspection, so as to be positive that player’s safety wouldn’t be endangered. So did I, and this took me almost 20 minutes. No sooner had I finished the inspection than I summoned the club officials for the equipment checks. Then, they told me that they haven’t brough the away kit nor did they have a set of numbered bibs (this solution is ok for this league). The home team are unable to go each player to his own home and bring the alternative shirts, so the only solution for the game to be played is that the away officials go to their ground and bring the away kit.
However, as KO time looms on us, I’m told by the away coach that the kits are still under way, and they are expected to need some 15 minutes. That’s more than the time I have, as other games are scheduled after mine. He then brings about this solution: they have used white warm-up shirts, and they propose making numbers on them with a permanent marker (you know, they’re not always so permanent when there’s water around), and they change to the away kit at the earliest convenient opportunity.
I accept, starting some 10 minutes late. To be honest, it didn’t cause any trouble, and I think that, as it didn’t rain at all during the game, we could have played this way all the game -however, I’m not so sure what would have been the situation with more rain. The alternative kits arrived 5 minutes into the game, and a home player needed assistance at that moment. They required my permission to change their kits at that moment, and no more than one minute after the game restarted, now with a good kit of shirts properly numbered.
Note that the numbers of both kits coincided, and I used extra zeal when dealing with incidents after the change. No card, subs, or goal had happened by that time.
