Please, Referees, do not hand over your hard earned money for a shirt that is not only atrocious but completely useless. The current four colors are enough.
Why did it take this long for the 5th color to come out? I had been expecting it for some time. And why can't we just get away from that stupid grid pattern? PS -- I heard a rumor NISOA was moving to Adidas
Is that supposed to be an attempt at green? Looks like a replacement for yellow to me. But again, why?
Disgusting like the all the other NISOA colors? God. One day I will be President of NISOA and we will change to Diadora.
1) What is NISOA? 2) Do you really need more than 3 colours? 3) Why do you US folk insist on using such ugly uniforms, no matter the organization? (Looking mostly at USSF.)
Answers: 1. College officials organization. 2. No. 3. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for the manufacturers and licensing fees for the organization. "Follow the money" answers most questions like this.
Probably not worth a separate thread, because we won't see these here. But thought it was worth noting that Nike has designed new referee kits. These will be in the French and Dutch leagues this year. Probably will also be in CONCACAF competitions relatively soon. http://www.dutchreferee.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DutchRefereesNewNikeOutfit20122013.jpg For the first time, I believe, Nike has created four colors and they've put the swoosh on the uniforms (hard to see in these photos, but it's there). They also have a somewhat innovative pocket placement (hybrid of traditional and what Diadora did a few years ago). Anyway, the effort being put in here makes me think Nike might make a more serious referee kit push in the coming years. Given what our national team wears, I've always thought that if OSI ever gets ditched, it would be for Nike (and not Adidas), but that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon regardless. Oh, and I had the same thought SA14Mars had about the OSI college green kits... looks like a misprinted version of the gold. With the extent to which the black is woven in to these designs, I can't imagine a scenario where the gold conflicts but the "green" doesn't. There's been some blatant money-making maneuvers by suppliers in the past (and it doesn't really bother me, as their purpose is to make money), but this is just stupid. If I were in NISOA, I'd rather see a 3-year phase-in of a new jersey design and four colors, rather than the addition of a useless 5th color in what I consider an outdated design (pretty sure the design got created as a bastardized version of the World Cup 1994 kits... with the black weaving in vertically rather than horizontally).
Thanks for the reply. But this doesn't really explain how they are so ugly to begin with. It is cheaper for the manufacturer to make ugly shirts as opposed to even decent looking ones?
The NISOA ones are a (in my opinion, poor) knock-off of the Adidas WC94 version, just with the weaved black going vertically instead of horizontally (and different colors). The USSF jerseys are a knock-off of the WC98 jerseys. There was a slight modification 3-4 years ago in the design (and the addition of two colors along the way), but it all stems from the 1998 Adidas pinstripes. In short, the OSI designs are based on Adidas' designs from the mid-to-late 1990s. In an ironic way, the reason the jerseys are "ugly" is because OSI doesn't want to do a wholesale overhaul (which would undoubtedly make more money) and has stuck with dated designs.
Are these really OSI designs or is OSI merely the supplier of designs from the relevant governing bodies (USSF & NISOA)?
That's a good point. The governing bodies would need to approve any re-design. As to who originally made the designs in the first place, I don't know. I'd tend to think the apparel company would be the actual party doing the creative work, with subsequent approval from the governing body (and perhaps input on the front end of what they want them to look like), but that's only because it seems to make more sense to me.
It is my understanding that OSI worked with NISOA to develop the shirt. There really is no "official" referee shirt since you do not have to be a member of NISOA to do go college matches, however, NISOA officials are expected to wear the shirt. The NCAA rulebook states that shirts need to be the same color and style, but it is reasonable that a non-NISOA crew could do a game in whatever pattern they wanted.
Just for the young 'uns in the crowd, NISOA, back in the day, used a vendor called Footers. Footers was owned by the son-in-law of the executive director. You could only get NISOA uniforms from Footers. They were black, like you wore in USSF in those days, BUT they had the NISOA logo! And the alternate shirt was bright orange with black cuffs and collar. All too many NISOA referees had a significant beer gut which make them look like pumpkins in the alternate color. Some still do in the orange shirts!
Just Nationals although I suspect a round badge will be coming for all based on a graphic image on the NISOA site: