I am a fairly new referee and now that the cold weather is upon us, I have some questions. First off, is the referee allowed to wear gloves. Secondly, is the referee allowed to wear sweatpants plus shorts or must he/she only wear the shorts. If you are not allowed to wear sweats, can you wear them underneath but not have them showing? And the same with the jersey, if you are wearing the short sleeve jersey can the sweats show? I was wondering what the pros do in the cold. Thanks.
Law 18 - Common Sense. 1. Wear what you need to keep warm so that you can focus on the game and not on the fact that you can't feel your fingers or toes. 1a. If you are being assessed, do not wear anything that is not part of a standard USSF referee uniform. From the ground up: I wear a pair of socks under my referee socks, even in warm weather. Normally I wear a short crew sock, but I definitely go for the long ones in the cold to give me two layers over my calf muscles. As far as sweatpants, I prefer to save them for halftime and before and after the game. I don't like to wear them during the game (which gave me the nickname of "the naked ref" at a November women's tournament where all of the other officials were wearing sweats ). If any of the players are wearing shorts, I will be wearing shorts. If you do decide to wear sweatpants, please wear them over your referee shorts. That way, if you decide to take them off you can do so fairly quickly. Also, I think that shorts over sweatpants looks really silly. Please do not wear neon yellow sweats as I have seen one referee do. Black would be best. If you do not have a long sleeve referee shirt then wear a sweatshirt under the referee shirt. Again, preferably black. Please do not wear a hooded sweatshirt if you can help it. I showed up last year for a match with my long sleeved shirt with multi-layers underneath. I looked like the odd one because the other two refs had on shortsleeved shirts and black sweatshirts underneath. Gloves, yes. Again, black is best. Ideally, they should be thin enough for you to be able to use a pencil without having to take them off to write. Being "folically-challenged", I frequently wear a hat in cold weather. It keeps me warmer, it keeps me from getting sun/wind burned, and the visor helps me see when the sun gets low in the sky. What do the pros do? They will not wear sweatpants on the field, but they will pre- and post-game, plus at halftime. They will wear longsleeve jerseys with whatever they want underneath. There is a all-weather referee kit sold that you will frequently see on wet and cold days, again, with whatever is necessary underneath it.
Okay, the sweat pants are not part of the official uniform. Gloves can be used. My recommendation is try to wear the official uniform in long sleeve and wear a thermal long sleeve t-shirt beneath. If you are refereeing you will be warm even if the temps are in the 30's. If you are an AR, you have more problems since you are not running as hard or as constantly as the center. If the match is not a professional one or is not assessed, wear your warm-up suit or leave your warm-up pants ons and take off your warm-up top. Makes it easier for the CR to see you to signal. Do not wear short sleeves with long sleeve thermal or sweat shirts. It looks unprofessional. No caps either. If the temps are really severe in the 20's or lower, wear thermal underwear. Try to find a fleshtone color if available or wear black and wear it beneath your shorts and socks.
Since the snow is usually present here until may I have had get used to playing in the cold weather.........despite what the book says I would remember that a stocking hat is a great way to hold extra heat in on the cold days.......and dont stand still accept when signalling!
LOL!!! On Saturday the temp was in the upper 30's. I worked three games. No problems with the cold. During halftime I joked with the parents that they needed to sprint goal line-to-goal line to get warm. On Sunday, temp in low 40's, I was observing some young referees in action and the truth of my joke became very apparent as the feeling in my hands and feet faded.