Shrewsbury vs Liverpool Black Kit

[JamesL]

I have been reliably informed today on Twitter that grassroots referees are now allowed to wear coloured shirts to avoid clashes

Not quite as straightforward. Firstly your county FA must allow it. Some do. Some don't. Secondly, some county FAs that do allow it, dictate the alternative colour. Some allow any colour.
Thirdly, the competition may allow or not allow a colour within the framework of the county FAs decision.

 

[StiltonRef]

I realise it is not carte blanche wear what you like situation, but it is an improvement imo.

 

[zarathustra]

Not really my point, will try one more time - it can't be correct that clubs/PL/PGMOL/refs decide to ignore the law at that level and everyone accepts it.

It's not correct as per the laws of the game, but I suspect that they would just cite the spirit of the game.

I.e treat it similar to if two goalkeepers having matching kits and neither has a change available, then the referee allows the game to continue.

Ultimately whether we like it or not it is what it is, and honestly I'd be more concerned about their lack of action on dissent and offinabus than whether Mike Dean has a similar colour shirt to DeGea

 

[Ben448844]

Back when life was in black and white, you had to walk backwards uphill in the snow just to get to a game, and Royal Engineers were on a cup run, I ended up at Southampton FC to referee one of their academy sides against Reading (I think) who had a fetching all-black away kit that they decided to turn up in. Ah. I've only got all-black. Three choices of shirt, but all of them black.

Reading management - and let's not forget their first choice colours are BLUE AND WHITE - were quite patronising that this was somehow all my fault while I was trying to find a bib or something that wasn't godawful for me to run around in, then one of the Southampton staff found a green Premier League jersey, competition badge and all, that an official had left there a couple of games ago. It was absolutely huge on me, but I'll never forget wearing that with absolute glee.

Naturally it was all downhill from there.

(Always suspected it was Alan Wiley's tbh)

I do academy football regularly (4 games in 7 days this week). 3 times teams have turned up in black this season. One was a Scandanavian team, one was a private academy (Irish/US) and one was a League 1 academy side in a friendly. Once I wore a bib, once the home academy provided a yellow ref top and once the ref leant me one. I've now bought a yellow one from the internet, which I'll only wear in academy arranged games if requested. It's not ideal, but just get on with it.

 

[PinnerPaul]

It's not correct as per the laws of the game, but I suspect that they would just cite the spirit of the game.

I.e treat it similar to if two goalkeepers having matching kits and neither has a change available, then the referee allows the game to continue.

Ultimately whether we like it or not it is what it is, and honestly I'd be more concerned about their lack of action on dissent and offinabus than whether Mike Dean has a similar colour shirt to DeGea

View attachment 4050

I agree about dissent, but that is just another consequence of the same problem - PL choosing which laws they want to enforce and which they don't.

 

[RustyRef]

To be fair the law is an ass in this respect. It allows both keepers to be in the same colour but requires the referee to be different. The referee will never be in the vicinity of a challenge with a keeper, the same can't be said of the two keepers, especially in cup games. So I support the approach, and as I've said in some games it is impossible for the officials to wear kit that doesn't clash with someone and keepers are the least worst option.

 

[StiltonRef]

The referee may not be challenging the keeper but he may be in a position where he is in the ARs line of sight and they could get confused. However like others I agree clashing with the keeper is the best option when there is no alternative that doesn't clash with the outfield players.