Uniform updates?

Discussion in 'Referee' started by socal lurker, Mar 5, 2020.

  1. Kit

    Kit Member+

    Aug 30, 1999
    Herkimer, NY, USA
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I gave the cat a red card after I saw the mess he left.
     
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  2. Bubba Atlanta

    Bubba Atlanta Member+

    Mar 2, 2012
    Yep, Atlanta
    Club:
    Atlanta United FC
    I like the idea of Kit's cat.

    One of our cats wandered in and posed behind me in one of my video conference calls yesterday, and pretty much brought the call to a halt. People really are getting stir crazy.

    But then I guess cats kinda do that anyway, don't they.
     
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  3. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #53 MassachusettsRef, Mar 21, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2020
    On the grey/silver/white idea, just a couple random thoughts.

    The first time FIFA sanctioned new colors aside from black (other than the special-case alternatives they needed, like with Scotland) was 1994. World Cup 1994 started everything. The first set that led to everything we have now was fuchsia, silver and gold.

    The fuschsia was adopted as a sanctioned USSF alternate pretty quickly (1996?). Then, after 1998 World Cup had Adidas pinstripes of Ruby (red), Sun (yellow) and Black (black), USSF made the switch to a pinstripe and adopted all three of those colors with Gold being "primary." That started in 1999, I believe. Blue then came around 2003 and Green around 2007. Anyway...

    The original silver sort of got lost in all of that. FIFA and Adidas dumped it in favor of bringing back black. Here it is here:

    https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/...th-june-1994-colombia-2-v-news-photo/79041618

    It's actually extraordinarily tough to find online. Googling "Adidas World Cup 1994 silver referee jersey" and all variants came up almost empty. I had to start searching individual matches where I knew it was likely worn.

    A silver made a reappearance in EURO 2000 alongside yellow and forest green. That jersey is here: https://www.alamy.com/football-stad...ree-pierluigi-collina-ita-image185385392.html

    I think that is the last time Adidas went with that sort of tone for a WC or EURO. They did have the UCL white kit, which I liked but apparently wasn't popular:

    https://www.zimbio.com/photos/Jonas...Rubin+Kazan+UEFA+Champions+League/CVzYB6dePe4

    White was also at least once an Adidas alternate in the pre-1994 days. Again, back then it was basically needed for when Scotland played (and a few other instances). The normal go-to was an orangish kit. But with Scotland drawn against the Netherlands, this was needed (#3):

    https://www.footyheadlines.com/2018/12/our-all-time-top-6-referee-kits.html
     
  4. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Related to that last jersey I referenced, this is an interesting article primarily about Scotland's uniforms for 1992, but it touches upon how three different referee kits were used--including one with an Adidas polo shirt, which is also linked to below:

    https://museumofjerseys.com/2020/02/11/european-championship-classics-scotland-1992/

    https://juhatamminen.photoshelter.com/image/I0000PfrPksYVQ18

    Suffice it to say, 1994 is where things got real serious on referee kits. Prior to WC90, you would even see referees in different shorts and socks at World Cups (and, a decent time prior to that, different jerseys altogether). 1994 is where everything changed at the international level.

    Though, in the EPL, 1992 was the key moment: https://museumofjerseys.com/2016/12/19/liverpool-v-aston-villa-1993-an-impromptu-referee-kit-change/
     
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  5. RedStar91

    RedStar91 Member+

    Sep 7, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    In Euro 2004, they had a silver/grey color. The referees wore it in the group stage and Collina wore it on the opener.



    Speaking of Collina, you know you were good when you probably miss a DOGSO red card by Ronaldo on that PK he awarded and no one says a word or notices it.

    If you look through highlights of that tournament, they pretty much scrap that color after the group stage. The referees only wore black in all the knockout stage matches.

    I still never understood why they scrapped that white CL kit after the 2010-2011 CL season. I still think it's one of the greatest referee kits of all time.
     
  6. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  7. RefIADad

    RefIADad Member+

    United States
    Aug 18, 2017
    Des Moines, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Interesting history. Since I really got back into soccer in the 2001-2002 time frame and then stepped away from officiating for the better part of a decade (and therefore didn't focus on the officials as much), I didn't know a lot of this. Looking through the photos, that 2000 Euro gray kit looked really sharp (maybe because Collina is wearing it, but still). The white kit Eriksson wore is also good if it didn't have some of the star-type details on it. Again, I like simplicity.

    My opinion only, but the significant amount of yellow and lime green goalkeeper kits makes yellow and green less of an option if we are going to strictly follow "five colors on the field". Obviously, the pros don't do it and I really don't worry about it much at the grassroots level. Given I work a lot of matches with younger referees since I do a lot of U14 and below games (my son is U12, so I work a lot of matches on days when he plays), yellow is often the only color they have.

    I get that uniform sales drive all of these third and sometimes even fourth kits in the pros. I've always been a big fan of pink kits. I liked the Italian Diadora kits, I like the UEFA Macron kits, and I do have a set of three pink USSF-style shirts that I sometimes break out for high school matches (In Iowa, the only requirement for our shirts is that we wear same color and style - if we want to wear white golf shirts, we can wear white golf shirts. However, we wear normal USSF shirts 99% of the time). Once my son's basketball team started wearing gray and basically never had to change into their white uniforms (their non-white used to be navy, so they would have to change uniforms a lot because other teams from their school district wore navy and their rival district wear gold and black), that got me thinking how gray could be a good option that wouldn't clash as much with the current yellow and lime green kits.
     
  8. GearRef

    GearRef Member

    Manchester City
    United States
    Jan 2, 2018
    La Grange Park, Illinois
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Speaking of Europe, does anybody remember these UCL kits from 2014-15? If I recall correctly they were only used on a handful of matches before they were dropped.


    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.da...ue-referees-cause-confusion-new-grey-kit.html

    2008 Euros had a grey kit, and 2006 World Cup had either a very dark grey or a very light black.

    https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-s...=1&vd=0&lb=&fi=2&edrf=&ispremium=1&flip=0&pl=

    https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/n...-is-seen-during-the-world-news-photo/71299969
     
  9. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If you want to get very technical, sure. Those two tournaments had kits that were slightly short of black.

    But the discussion veered in this direction because of a desire to have kits that were slightly off-white or at least so clearly grey or silver that you wouldn't think to confuse them with black--not kits that were slightly "off-black." The Nike light grey were cited as a prime example. The 2006 and 2008 Adidas kits were, for all intents and purposes, the black kits for those editions, even if they weren't jet or matte black. Sort of like how for the 2014 World Cup, the very dark navy blue jerseys played the role of "black" even though they were technically blue (as there was also the much more vibrant blue jerseys serving the "blue" role).

    Translating it to the sort of "what colors would you want in your kit bag?" fantasy discussion, you'd never have either of the 2006 or 2008 hues and black. No company would make "very dark grey" and "black" in the same style.

    I'm very confident in saying that at the EUROs and WC, 1994 and 2000 were the only times that Adidas offered what could clearly be considered a hue on the lighter grey end--either toward white or at least very much "not black." The 1994 version was marketed as "Silver" and the 2000 kit was marketed as "Charcoal Grey." @RedStar91 brought up the 2004 kits, which were very light in hue but definitely called "Dolphin Blue."
     
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  10. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just to reinforce the point on 2006 and 2008, these were the kit options (modeled by the selected referees):

    https://www.shutterstock.com/editor...soccer-referees-neu-isenburg-germany-7089527d

    http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/2008/06/07/euro-2008-referees-the-team-that-cant-win/

    2006 was yellow, red, black generally (just like 2002 and 1998 were, in fact) plus a blue that wasn't modeled here (but Graham Poll definitely wore!).

    2008 changed the hues a little--including lightening the black jersey to be a very dark grey, as was cited.

    In 1994 and 2000, the silver/grey kits were used mostly when one team was in a very dark kit. For 2006 and 2008, the opposite was true.
     
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  11. RefIADad

    RefIADad Member+

    United States
    Aug 18, 2017
    Des Moines, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #61 RefIADad, Mar 21, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2020
    When I work solo games, I wear blue, black, or pink unless colors force me to wear yellow, green, or red (the colors I normally wear in the league and tournament games I work). I only wear pink in local small-sided tournaments that aren't official state events. I've earned a good reputation for working hard, mentoring youth refs, and doing a lot of youth games despite also doing a lot of high school games, so I get a little more leeway that some other referees may not get.

    For example, my son's club runs a 7v7 indoor league during the week, a 6v6 indoor tournament (55 x 30 yards with a keeper), and a 4v4 indoor tournament (30 x 25 yards, no keepers). I know those are officially under the auspices or US Soccer, but since I am a solo I try to wear my pink unless the tournament director specifically tells me not to wear it (he's never told me no). I actually get a lot of compliments on the pink shirt. There are two other referees that carry pink, and when two of us work together we give one of our other pink shirts to the third and wear pink in our high school games.

    And on an unrelated note, those 2006 World Cup referee kits were really sharp.
     
  12. RefGil

    RefGil Member

    Dec 10, 2010
    I once wore all five colors in one game. I was AR. It was a tournament. We started in yellow. Whenever there was settled play in the other end, I (or the other AR if play was in my end) would change shirts to see if we could confuse the CR. Players et c. didn't seem to even notice. At one point, the CR was in yellow, one AR in red, and the other AR in green. Which became known as the "traffic light".
     
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  13. RedStar91

    RedStar91 Member+

    Sep 7, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
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  14. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Damn it! I have to readjust my confidence levels. Not sure how I forgot that, other than it didn't get used that much. Was this one of the colors that MLS ended up not using? I remember now (I think) that green and red got introduced for the Olympics that year after only black/grey/blue/yellow were at the EUROs. So there were six colors introduced in one year. I don't think MLS and other domestic leagues adopted all of them.

    So, Adidas grey/silver at a major tournament was 1994, 2000 and 2012. I think that's exhaustive.
     
  15. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's the only time, right? 1994 had no black and neither did 2000.

    Sort of weird, if you think about it. I bet for most tournaments Adidas could have got away with a black and a silver with maybe one other color like a neon blue or orange. Of course, when selling jerseys is a major factor, limiting yourself unnecessarily isn't a smart business decision, as Adidas learned pretty quickly at the beginning of this century.
     
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  16. RedStar91

    RedStar91 Member+

    Sep 7, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    #66 RedStar91, Mar 24, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2020
    I remember them using it in MLS, but I'm not sure for how long though.



    I know they used it at the beginning of the 2012 season (all the referees loved it), but I think MLS scrapped it as the season went on. I don't feel like looking up playoff games of that season and see if referees were still wearing them.

    I think part of it is that almost every team in MLS wears white as their alternate kit so you can't use it for half the time. Also, most MLS matches are at night and I think there isn't a great contrast at night on TV with grey. It's also why MLS referees rarely wear black on games at night.

    You are correct about the red and green being introduced for the Olympics.

    See Geiger wearing it on his game:



    They were also used in the Club World Cup of that year.



    I don't think any domestic leagues adopted the red and green certainly not MLS or any of the European leagues.

    They might have been used in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations which would make sense from a timing perspective. Red and green get developed in time for Olympics in summer of 2012. They are used in Club World Cup in December of 2012 and Africa Cup of Nations take place in January of 2013.

    But that is all I can think of from a competition standpoint.
     
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  17. RedStar91

    RedStar91 Member+

    Sep 7, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    You can say 2004 as well. I know they call it "dolphin blue," but to the naked eye and for all intents and purposes it is grey!
     
  18. GearRef

    GearRef Member

    Manchester City
    United States
    Jan 2, 2018
    La Grange Park, Illinois
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No, MLS did use the grey. I believe they used the original black, grey, blue, and yellow, but not the red or green.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/beta.c.../en/national/sports/2018/11/30/1_4199465.html

    Edit: Got beaten to the punch.
     
  19. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The grey disappeared though, right? To RS91’s point about so many teams having white, it was rarely used.

    And neither of the Olympic colors got adopted in 2013?
     
  20. RefIADad

    RefIADad Member+

    United States
    Aug 18, 2017
    Des Moines, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #70 RefIADad, Mar 24, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2020
    Maybe it wouldn't look as good on TV or at night, but if we are strictly talking about the games 99% of us do we could definitely wear that 2012 Adidas gray on the field in our games with a team wearing white. My son's basketball team did it all the time for two years. Maybe the gray would need to be just a little darker (like the actual color of my son's basketball uniform) but we've seen gray and white on the same field before - even in MLS with MN United against teams in white.

    I did take the annual Iowa high school rules video and exam this week, and one of the administrative issues is that NFHS (starting in 2021) is requiring that a team's gray uniform has to be at 70% or higher on some white to black scale (I found a few photos online). I've pasted a snippet of my son's gray uniform for a visual with the white lettering to show the contrast. One time, his coach decided to change from gray to white when playing a team wearing white, but normally the team just wore gray all the time since no one else had gray uniforms. I think that it would work for a game between teams wearing black and white if it isn't on TV. I also remember Peru's keeper wearing a color similar to this with the referees in black during the Copa America and thinking there were no issues at all telling the colors apart on an iPad Mini.

    Long way of saying that gray may not be a good option for a Saturday night LAFC vs Galaxy MLS game, but it would be a good option for many of us working that Saturday afternoon U15 game between Red Team FC vs Black Team United (or even White Team United) on Field 7.

    upload_2020-3-24_14-31-11.png
     
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  21. RedStar91

    RedStar91 Member+

    Sep 7, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    I'm 100% sure that the green and red Olympic colors didn't get adopted in 2013 in MLS. I think they scrapped they scrapped the grey completely for 2013 and just stick with yellow, light blue/sky blue and black.

    From my recollection, I don't think you could even buy the green and red online from your typical referee retailers that sold Adidas gear at that time.
     
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  22. RefIADad

    RefIADad Member+

    United States
    Aug 18, 2017
    Des Moines, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #72 RefIADad, Mar 24, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2020
    I don’t think Nike got that memo according to the photo of their flyer that I saw on a different referee forum. That’s anthracite second from left, right next to black.

    My guess is Nike is offering a bunch of options and expecting partners to use a smaller subset of these colors. Anthracite and black make no sense, as they clash with the same colors.

    upload_2020-3-24_17-22-17.png
     
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  23. MassachusettsRef

    MassachusettsRef Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 30, 2001
    Washington, DC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Seriously?! Wow.

    Probably. Still, you've got to wonder what the market is for that particular distinction.

    Exactly.

    On an unrelated note, I find it interesting that the "life-cycle" is noted on that advertisement. So all Nike leagues and Nike competitions know what they are getting until the fall of 2022.
     
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  24. SCV-Ref

    SCV-Ref Member

    Spurs
    Australia
    Feb 22, 2018
    Just as my career (not soccer....my real one) is winding down...I didn't think I'd have a need for this anymore!!
    greyscale01.gif
     
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  25. RefIADad

    RefIADad Member+

    United States
    Aug 18, 2017
    Des Moines, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #75 RefIADad, Mar 24, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2020
    That photo was what was in our presentation. So the “minimum” color for gray was the fourth (or maybe the fifth-I was zoning out during that part) from the left.

    I also do some basketball play by play in the winter, and I’ve had to call games where one team wore white and the other team wore silver closer to the 20% or 30% level. It wasn’t an easy game to broadcast. Fortunately, I knew most of the kids and could call the game by physical appearance.
     

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