Refs wearing sunglasses

[Mattjv]

I was curious about the rules regarding referees wearing sunglasses games. What are the rules(formal and/or informal) regarding sunglasses?

I only ask b/c I have had a ref several times this season, who is always wearing sunglasses during games. I understand why he wears them; there is good reason metro Phoenix is called the valley of the sun, but I think they impair his ability to call a game. Myself and two other members of my team have received yellow cards(rightfully so) for voicing our frustration about this to the refs. The one play that sticks out in my mind was a play near the goal line(slightly away from the goal) where myself and an opposing attacker were jostling for a ball, another defender was near me and the keeper had just started charging to claim the ball. Before the keep could get there, the ball went out over the goal line. As the ball was clearly out, my teammates and I stopped, anticipating a whistle and not wanting to get carded for wasting time by kicking a ball after the whistle. The sunglasses wearing ref, who was AR and not more than 15 feet from the play, didn't whistle and the attacker proceeded to collect the ball and shoot, luckily wide.

I realize that people make mistakes and that we should have played till the whistle blew, but blown calls seem to be a pattern with this particular official and I can't help but wonder if the dark sunglasses have anything to with it. From what I have read, it seems to imply its okay for a ref to wear sunglasses if necessary, but that they should be taken off if speaking with a player. I know the league i play in is not of the highest quality, so i don't expect the refs to be world class, but this is getting ridiculous.

[Sandcrab Margarita]

I ref in Los Angeles County, & we have sun issues here as well, especially this time of year, with matches crammed into the afternoon, in low-angle sunset light. Sunglasses are a must whenever you're looking west.

That having been said, your major complaint is

the ball was clearly out, my teammates and I stopped, anticipating a whistle...

Just play to the whistle, & you're problem's solved. I can't see how sunglasses affect someone's ability to see a mostly white ball roll competely over a white line. It's not the glasses...

The problem with sunglasses is that it impedes communication. Making eye contact with someone & using the eyes expressively really helps, especially when the officiating team wants to communicate subtly among themselves without spectators, coaches, & players picking up obvious signals (a flag, a gesture, pointing to a watch, etc.).

It also plays into communicating with spectators & coaches. It's really hard to stare down a coach from the center circle when you're wearing shades; it's a lot easier if s/he can see your eyes, for example.

If we worked in situations where sun isn't in an issue (England, perhaps?), or in stadiums with nice, high walls to block out angular sun, then we wouldn't even consider wearing shades. Unfortunately for those of us in areas with enviable weather, the degradation of vision due to squinting is much worse than the degradation of communication due to losing eye contact.

[NHRef]

Around here the rule is: they aren't part of the uniform, you do not wear them.

[IASocFan]

I agree with Sandcrab's analysis. I'm legally blind without my glasses. I have transition lenses so that in bright sunlight they are dark. Indoors they are clear. It's much easier for me just to have one pair on glasses, so I don't care if it's hard to see my eyes on bright sunny days. They plus a hat also help a lot while ARing on the East line on a late afternoon game.

The OP's concern should have been with the call not the glasses. No matter what color the ball or lines are, the AR should have been in a better position than the players who were perpendicular to the line. Sometimes a ball just on the line looks out from the field. Sometimes people will miss a call. PLAY the WHISTLE!

[OldAndNew]

I was curious about the rules regarding referees wearing sunglasses games.

I only ask b/c I have had a ref several times this season, who is always wearing sunglasses during games. I understand why he wears them; there is good reason metro Phoenix is called the valley of the sun, but I think they impair his ability to call a game.

How so?

If you understand WHY he wears them, (unless this dude just wears them to look 'cool' :cool: ) you KNOW that his vision is BETTER with, than without, them! :rolleyes:

The idiots on the sideline or on the bench who (when a call does not go in their favor) shout, "Ref, take your (sun) glasses off!", deserve the rejoinder, "Then I'd be a blind as you!" :D

[USSF REF]

I have always thought a solid black baseball cap should be allowed, when conditions permit -- at least for an AR who stares into an intense sunrise or sunset. They would be able to do their job with more accuracy.

[todler]

I never wear sunglasses. In the past, I would wear them while basically staring into the sun, and the first call a coach disagreed with, I got the "can't see because of those glasses" comments. So I just quit wearing them. Now the sun is an issue at times, but we're all in the same boat.

I don't see a good way around this though, since a player or coach will sieze on any thing to "prove" that you screwed them/up, as the case may be.

[DadOf6]

Just make sure the white cane stays home.

[refmedic]

I never understand why, when a player has something that he or she thinks went wrong, AND they (of course) think it was the referees' fault, they feel the need to come here to try to prove their point to themselves. Firstly, you answer your own question. Play the whistle. If there is a quick in-and-out, and you continue to play, the referee will blow the whistle. Secondly, the ball is out of play when the referee, sometimes with the help of his or her AR, determines that it is out of play; it is not out of play because a player thinks it is. Another reason to keep playing in this situation is that if you ASSUMED that the ball was out and picked it up with your hands to go and play a goal kick, he probably would have awarded a penalty to the attacking team; and you think you're upset now? Whether you thought the ball was out or not is really irrelevant. If the referee and/or the AR didnt think that the whole ball crossed the whole line, and indicate for the proper restart, or whistle when the attacking team continues to play because they didn't hear the whistle (we teach that to 8 years old's), then the ball was in play. You seem so sure that the referee was wrong, but it doesn't seem that you have considered that you may have been wrong. If you go into every match expecting from the get-go that the referee is going to make an incorrect decision (or as you put it, blow the call), then you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of disappointment.

I echo the people here who have commented that wearing glasses has nothing to do with this, other than maybe nonverbal communication. They may have been transition lenses, and they may have not. What if your referee next week has contact lenses and you just don't know it. Does that mean that they are automatically wrong because they wear glasses/contacts? You said it was sunny, so maybe they were functional. Either way, I completely agree that the referee who is wearing glasses of any kind can most likely see better with them than without them. Around here it is not acceptable to wear sunglasses or a hat (we have 1 guy who wears a black bandana in the summer b/c he has had skin cancer on his scalp before and we call him the pirate). I have worn sunglasses before once, on a dustbowl field, and had I not, I would have had to run the line with my back to the field so as not to end up with an eye injury. I don't know of any policy that officially forbids the wearing of sunglasses by a referee, it is just an unwritten rule (expectation) that they not be worn where I referee.

If you are receiving yellow cards for voicing your "opinion" to the referee, whether they are deserved or not, I submit to you that you might want to stop doing that. You may want to have that extra caution available should something else happen in the match and you end up getting another one.

Assistant referees don't whistle for anything, they signal with their flag. The fact that the AR was a mere 15 feet from the play leads me to believe that the chance that he was correct is far more likely than that he was in error. I have worked with referees who, when told they are a terrible referee, respond with something along the lines of "you know what, you're right, but that's because all of the good referees are refereeing real players in real leagues today". At the end of the day, the attacker missed the shot, there was no goal, and the only effect on the match was you losing your cool and ending up in the book, which means as a player you have to change your playing style so you don't get another one in the same match. It seems to me that you're making a mountain out of a molehill, and things could have been much worse.

[blech]

Sandcrab's point about communication has always been the key for me on this topic. I'm also in California, but fortunate not to be bothered by the sun, so I will never wear them and will squint, adjust my position, hold my hands up, etc. to do what I can and need to at certain times of day. Also, particularly with youth games, and all the more so the younger they get, I think it can be unnecessarily intimidating -- a partial mask of sorts -- and I would always discourage it for that reason. BUT, I do have some friends whose eyes are more sensitive, in which case I don't know what option they have other than not to do games.

Like others, I'm not getting the original post about how the sunglasses contributed to the missed call. From the sounds of it, assuming the description is accurate, the call would have been missed without glasses as well. Or, he may have been right, and there would need to be a different reason for the "complaint".

[scref]

I would like to hear what an assessor has to say about this.

I have always been taught that they are not part of the uniform and should not be worn.

[thegreatcrab]

I was also under the impression that they should not be worn...

That said one time my contact (I'm only near-sighted in one eye) fell out, and I had my prescription sunglasses in my bag. I held the next goalkick, and grabbed my sunglasses and continued with the game.

So I guess if they're prescription and the choice is crap vision or sunglasses, I'd go with the sunglasses.

[whyref]

There are any number of reasons that a person may wear sun glasses. And many of these are essential to that person being able to function in a bright light situation.

I wear glasses that become dark for medical reasons. I was involved in a close fire operation in the military which left my eyes sensitive to bright and intense light without impacting my ability to see clearly. Because of this when I turn quickly and do not have these glasses I am blinded for the next few minutes. But these are not sun glasses and I do remove these when I talk with a player or team staff member. So my need is medical, not convenience or for style.

As a person wearing these in a prescription application I can say that I doubt if the dark lenses made any impact on that referees ability to see the moment of play you describe. As stated before, play to the whistle; leave nothing to chance!

[mutinywxgirl]

I have prescription sunglasses, and am sensitive to the bright sunlight. I wear them and have had no problems.

[OldAndNew]

I would like to hear what an assessor has to say about this.

I have always been taught that they are not part of the uniform and should not be worn.

I have worn prescription lenses (for the past 10 years) to give me 20-20 vision and they are tinted (used to be 'photo-gray' or transitional) to protect my eyes against UV-a and UV-b rays. My vision is 'par-excellance' with these aids - unlike the rose-colored glasses of the biased and 'never-satisfied' stooges on the bench or bleachers.

Sun-block is not a listed piece of equipment - but is worn on the skin. A truss, knee-brace or any other type of support bandage or strapping is not listed as part of the equipment either - but may be needed.

I'm not vying for a job as a National Referee - I'm just busting my ass doing 400 games a year because we can't get enough of the whining A-holes in the bleachers to take up this thankless task.

I don't give a rat's ass what an assessor would say. If any assessor wants to 'down-grade' me for my glasses, he'll have my assignor's foot firmly up 'where he 'll not see the sunshine' because such 'nit-picking' is just PC crap!

We simply do not have enough qualified bodies to cover the volume of games being played that we can afford to worry about these nonsensical perceptions from people already predisposed to berate us.

It is my PERFORMANCE that is paramount to my assignor. Sure he wants me to dress tidily, be punctual, conduct myself mannerly. He WANTS me to wear my hearing aid (if it will help me hear dissent more clearly) or wear glasses (if they help me see infringements more clearly).

Perhaps he'd rather me NOT have a beer-gut or fat ass, but he doesn't fret over them - as long as I can haul them as quickly to where they need to be to protect the safety of the players I'm responsible for and to make the judgments I'm obligated to.

I have never had a problem making a coach or player understand when I am unhappy with him (or her) - I don't need that eye-to-eye contact. The 'mouth-to-ear' and/or 'finger-to-parking lot' gesture has not failed me yet.

[DWickham]

The USSF position is that hats and sunglasses would never be worn in a high level match, but USSF understands there may be medical reasons to have them.

On a personal basis, I think hats are valuable when when the weather is hot. (I'm old enough that it bothers me when referees wear hats on at warm summer night.)

I don't think sunglasses are ever appropriate. They get in the way of communication. Lots of information can be exchanged through eye contact among the referee team. That is lost when you cannot make eye contact because someone wears sunglasses. Sunglasses also impede effective one on one communications. What mamma said about looking someone in the eye when you talk to them is true. Even when inspecting the field (when sunglasses might be worn), I think it builds a better relationship if you take off the sunglasses when you stop to chat with a coach or player.

I also have glasses that tint in sunlight. But, I lost all interest in wearing them to referee when I saw some photographs of eye injuries caused when a soccer ball struck the sunglasses which pierced the eyeball. Those pictures got me back into contact lens (with UV protection.)

YMMV.

[gosellit]

I would like to hear what an assessor has to say about this.

I have always been taught that they are not part of the uniform and should not be worn.

In the majority of matches that I would be assessing, sunglasses would be totally inappropriate.

At a lower level match, the wearing of prescription sunglasses would be OK IMO.

Non-prescription sunglasses are never appropriate IMO.

[whyref]

I also have glasses that tint in sunlight. But, I lost all interest in wearing them to referee when I saw some photographs of eye injuries caused when a soccer ball struck the sunglasses which pierced the eyeball. Those pictures got me back into contact lens (with UV protection.)

YMMV.

I have always had great respect for the information posted on any forum by Mr. Wickham. However, there is absolutely no reason for this to be a concern with the current technology that is applied to prescription lenses. In fact, I have recently seen the newest in lenses at a safety symposium and they now can make prescription lenses which are flexible; will not shatter and these return to shape after impact.

I did use to worry about this issue, but the advancements made starting about 15-years ago have been tremendous and should calm any worry.

[whyref]

In the majority of matches that I would be assessing, sunglasses would be totally inappropriate.

At a lower level match, the wearing of prescription sunglasses would be OK IMO.

Non-prescription sunglasses are never appropriate IMO.

Good question and would like to hear some answers from others. But where I am located, most of the assessors wear glasses so I'm not sure it's that much of an issue here.

[DWickham]

WHYREF is absolutely correct about the improved safety of the lenses, and it is important that those who think it unsafe to let players wear glasses be aware of it.

The photos that had such an impact on me, however, did not concern the lenses. It was the image of a broken frame with the metal rims (much like mine) that had pierced the eyeball. Apparently, the AR had been struck by a deflected ball. It is an image that haunts me.