Can someone tell me why MLS refs of late have been chosing to wear tops that can be in conflict with one of the team's colors? Example: Dallas (black with red trim) - NE (white with blue and red) 9-14-02 ref wore RED??? Many times the ref's red top with Black shorts was easily confused for a Burn player..why not yellow? today: Crew (yellow) - NE (blue) ref is wearing BLUE? Sure it is a lighter shade, but why not black or red? In fact it is almost the same color the crew keeper is wearing. There have been several of these of late and I cannot explain why they would wear colors that are questionable, when they have obvious options with out question. peet
I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that referees are instructed by MLS ahead of time which jerseys to wear once the teams have officially submitted their uniform choices. Whether or not that is the case, whoever is deciding (either the league or the individual refs), there are four options to choose from: Black Red Gold Blue The first criteria in selecting jerseys is to not conflict with the teams. The second criteria (and less important one) is to not conflict with the goalkeepers. If the referee has to conflict with a goalkeeper in order to conflict less with the two teams, that's what will happen. In today's match, gold and black were out of the question (sorry, but the black is a much closer shade to the Revs blue than the referee blue is). That leaves red and blue to choose from. I guess, that, in Hall's opinion (or the league's), there was enough red in the Revs uniform to justify him wearing the blue. Quite honestly, the referee blue is a very odd shade, and really doesn't conflict with any uniforms in MLS. I can't recall the goalkeeper colors in the NE/Dallas match, but I suspect they had something to do with the referee not wearing gold or blue.
Maybe they forgot thier other jerseys! One of my favorite pictures is of a young state reff who forgot to bring his black shoes to a game and had to run in his white ones!!! We had a good time giving him a hell!
MassachussetsRef is correct when he says that MLS tell the crews what color to wear for each game though the referee has the discretion to change if he feels it is necessary. But, as he said for this game, yellow and black would have been immediately ruled out because of the teams colors. That would leave red or blue, but as was mentioned in one of the MLS notesf rom early in the season, the referees have been told NEVER to wear red in New England - the perimeter wall of Gillette stadium is brght red - almost the same shade as the ref uniform - which makes it very difficult for the referee to pick up the ARs. So, that would have left them with no choice yesterday. Even though it looked pretty close to the color of the Columbus goalie, that is considered a fairly minor issue compared to all the others.
not purple...mom wouldn't let me wear it, lol, even if it was the only appropriate color...i think green to the same tint as the blue would be good. y not everyone wear star trek jerseys?
I was recently discussing the new blue jerseys and it was discussed that what USSF should do is to pick ONE color that is not in common use by teams -- perhaps Orange and make that the standard USSF referee color. Then outlaw ALL uses of that color for team jerseys. Two jerseys in the bag -- short sleeve and long sleeve. By the time I wind up getting the blue jerseys over the next year or so, I'll be carrying 12 jerseys in the bag during the fall when I referee high school. It's getting just a bit ridiculous.
that would greatly limit the amount of money made... and our U6 and U8s have different shades of just about every color...
Personally, I really don't care what the colors are. We had three and now we have four. I know it gets expensive and that it's a pain to lug around eight jerseys, but I like having a bit of a choice. When you come out in gold, red, or blue you look more like a person than a traffic cop with bad socks IMO. There's a little more personality to the referee team, and its a little less boring. I also know that OSI is making a fortune off of us. It bothers me a little, but I happen to like their stuff a little better unfortunately. I feel a little bad when I drop money on their website, but I'm a sucker I guess. OSI could easily make up for that if they could invent a sock and a shirt that would end "ref tan" forever. My wife is embarrassed to go to the beach with me and keeps threatening me with trips to a tanning salon. BTW, I think its only a matter of time before we get either a full new set of shirts or a fifth color like green.
ah, yes, the beautiful referee sock lines...i don't buy OSI...i get High five equivalent to a Pro jersey for the price of an economy
And what exactly was wrong with the fucshia color we used to wear? Absolutely nothing. It almost never conflicted with any team jersey. I still have a couple laying around. It's all about $$$$ for USSF and it's sponsors, pure and simple.
No self-respecting person in the human race would ever wear that colour. Whoever designed that was doing bad drugs at a 70' discoteque. signed: Barney
Interesting read about the colour of shirts that USSF referees have to wear. Over here we have a simple solution which is that all referees wear the traditional Black shirt with white collar and cuffs, black shorts and black socks with white trim. All the teams have to do is select any other colour that does not clash. ie: not dark blue. We recently had a team turn up to a match in an all black strip and they were told by the ref that they had to wear another colour. They said that they had another shirt available for the ref. The ref said sorry, rules prevented him from wearing any other colour.