A kid I've coached is becoming a ref, and I'm delighted. His family is asking about the uniform he needs. We have a local retail shop, but I need to be sure I'm not leading them astray. Am I correct in thinking the official USSF uniform is what we see on the Official Sports site, with an Official Sports logo on the shirt, shorts and socks? It's a little frustrating that their site doesn't have a one-stop-shopping page for new refs, and the home page shows a red shirt for some reason even though yellow is the obvious first choice.
I'm wrong -- Official Sports DOES have a "full kit" page: http://officialsports.com/ussf-pro-short-sleeve-kit/ So am I correct in thinking he needs to get exactly this?
There is a bit of "depends on your state" so I'll say what my state is like: For the majority of youth soccer matches (not top tier): The current "style" of referee jersey posted on the official sports website is the correct and required style of jersey for youth soccer games under USSF. This includes AYSO. However, the manufacturer (Official Sports, Score, etc.) does not matter and so you may have the same jersey without the OSI and USSF logos and still be able to referee youth soccer games under USSF. You must wear black shorts but it doesn't matter if it has the OSI or USSF logos. In my state USSF requires two stripe socks, and AYSO and High School require three stripes, but noone really cares in most youth soccer matches. For the highest tier soccer matches (not games a first year referee would be doing): Everyone at the highest level needs to match and since everyone wears OSI branded gear you'll need it too. All referees need to match on sock stripes and shirt sleeve length.
Is that shirt sleeve length really true? I have watched numerous pro games where the CR will have short sleeves and the ARS will have long sleeves.
As George Costanza said, "it's not a lie, if you believe it." It's true for people who think it's true (and, to be fair, it used to be true). Lower-level assignors and local "senior" referees all around the country think it's still true. They all say it "looks more professional." Yet, perversely, it's completely false for the actual referees who officiate professional matches. So the real technical answer is "no, it's not true." But the practical answer is, along the way, a newer referee will run into people--some in positions of authority or self-styled as mentors--who will be absolutely certain it is true. So plan accordingly. The bottom line is that any new referee has much bigger fish to fry both before and after they get to the point where anyone will say something about it.
A good assignor will let you know what colors you have to have and which are optional. A bad assignor and the referee supervisor will always say, "get all the shirts". But it will not do you much good to buy them all and everyone you work with only has yellow and blue.
I tell my new referee class that I have these requirements for officials I assign (mostly rec or low level travel games): 1. A pulse 2. A referee shirt (yellow is the best choice for first shirt) 3. Black shorts 4. Black socks 5. Shoes, preferably black. I usually get questions and I point back to #1 on the list. I don't care what color shirt the referee wears as long as they meet #1 on my list. I don't care if the socks have 2, 3 or five stripes. It's nice if the shorts are all black, but refer back to #1. Most of those kids will be gone in a couple of years no matter how hard we try to keep them. If they want a blue off-brand shirt, I'm not going to quibble.
If he is going to be doing nothing but rec games he probably doesn't need more than a jersey, socks, and a whistle. No need to buy a full kit if you don't need flags, cards, book, officials shorts. He'll need a watch but most kits don't have one.
And most any $10 digital watch with a timer function will work fine. Splurge and get him two, one for each arm, and then he will look truly professional. (We all like to carry two of everything, just in case.)
First of all, it's awesome that a youngster you've coached through the years is becoming a ref. In my opinion, I think the way to go for a young referee is to buy the OSI Economy 11 piece starter pack for $60.50 (shipping not included). That's an awfully good deal for the basics of what he needs. After that, I'd get a green shirt and then a third color depending on the colors prevalent around your area - both short-sleeved. For example, in my area I'd recommend a referee to get a red shirt. We have colors all over the map, but we only have two clubs that wear red. We also have two clubs in our area that wear that damn volt yellow, which should be illegal since it pretty much takes two colors out of play (hint - if you have to choose between our green and our yellow and that's it, choose yellow as it's more of a contrast than the green). If he refs for a couple of years and likes it/wants to do upper-level games, he can then buy more colors and/or long-sleeved shirts.
There are a number of refs who only wear long sleeves (see Ricardo Salazar, Richard Heron, Kevin Stott. I guarantee that in an August daytime MLS match, the ARs will likely not be matching the center in terms of sleeve length!
I seem to remember Salazar wearing short sleeves regularly. Additionally, Dickerson and Chapman only wear short sleeves.
Not ref-related, but I'm reminded that David Beckham was insisting he'd always wear long sleeves. I think he finally backed down.
I buy these shirts, and they've held up extremely well: https://www.amazon.com/stores/TotalSoccerFactory/node/14333221011
Whoa, finally! Someone besides OSI has XL referee socks that actually go up to a size 15. Thank you for the link!
On a related note: Anybody else notice the current OSI short-sleeve jersey doesn't hold up nearly as well as the old (multi-stripe) pattern? I guess it's attributable to the much lighter (welcome change) fabric, but I've already retired my first yellow jersey after about a year and a half. The old ones still looked good after four or so years!
Has anyone been receiving email blasts about the appropriate uniforms not being worn lol? I get a message from the assigners once a week about it in a copy and pasted text/email lol
It probably just depends on how many "I'm 114 years old, I'll wear whatever uniforms I want. If you're gonna make me buy new ones, then I'll just quit" old guys you have in your area.
The sad thing is when the 114 year old retires he just gives his 20 year old uniform as a hand me down to a 14 year old who will refuse to spend any of his referee earnings on actually getting properly equipped. But with the referee shortage you take what you get I guess.
I agree that getting the whole proper ussf kit (socks shorts jersey) is important. Looking the part is important. It doesn’t have to be the pro kit... they have packages with the economy stuff.... http://officialsports.com/1815-11-piece-ussf-starter-kit/ Basically the same as the 10 piece but you get a bag... a bag is important too for staying organized- nothing as defeating as showing up and having forgotten something.
Like my ref bag The day before I hadn't put anything away when going home. So I gathered up my whistles, cards, watches, new socks, shoes, patch and went out to my car. Realized I had left lunch in the house after I picked up my bag in the garage so I set the bag down, went and got my lunch, climbed in the car, and drove away... ref bag still in the garage. :facepalm:
There's at least one sensei of redundancy on here who keeps a backup of everything in the car against that very eventuality. (And no it's not me.)