I know Rusty. My point was that the letter explicitly states that it's only CFA sanctioned competitions that will be affected by this change, and therefore I take it that for any competitions sanctioned by The FA it would be any colour you like as long as it's black!
No, that isn't right. Leagues affiliated directly to the FA outrank those affiliated to CFAs, so the policy of the FA will apply. Which is that coloured kits can be worn.
Let me give an example. On a Middlesex County League game there is a fair chance that all three officials are MCFA referees, although not guaranteed. So if MCFA have decided on yellow as an alternate colour all three officials know what they need to do. Whereas on a Spartan South Midlands game, and let's assume I'm in the middle, one Saturday I might have someone from Middlesex (yellow) on one line and Essex (purple) on the other, whereas my county may have said green. The following Saturday I may work with assistants from Berks and Bucks and Herts, so they may have totally different policies.
The FA's policy of a CFA being able to nominate a single colour other than black has naively assumed that teams of three on leagues are all affiliated to the same county. That clearly isn't the case, and I can also think of lots of examples of where it isn't even when the competition is affiliated to a CFA rather than the FA.
I don't have a problem with referees wearing coloured shirts, but I do think a team of three should always have the same colour. The way I would have done this change is still prohibited teams from wearing black, but allowed referees to wear any colour they like as long as they also have a black kit. That way referees who want to wear what they want can, but when they work in a team there is a solution.
P.S. I do get the cost argument, and that it isn't much in terms of match fees to buy kits. The problem I have is there is almost a monopoly, or a duopoly, on referee shirts in England, and you are looking at the best part of £50 for a badged shirt. I do understand that referees can use eBay and other cheaper sources, but that brings about its own problems. For example a yellow Adidas shirt looks nothing like a yellow Nike one, and that comes back to credibility when in a team of three.