Curious if anyone has heard any rumblings about plans for the next style change. I like what we have now and would love to have them leave well enough alone. Is the best guess they will be revised in 2021?
I'm assuming we're talking about OSI. I haven't heard anything but then again I'm not at the level where I'd be hearing the rumors.
The most recent one for OSI was 2016, and the one before that was 2008, so I assume we’ll have these for 8-10 years.
The 2008 revamp was really just a tweak, too. It was an important cosmetic tweak that was definitely noticeable. But in the end it was pinstripes to wider stripes. Not exactly revolutionary. I actually would expect it is quite a while until you see a new revamp for a number of factors. First, OSI said it spent a lot of time listening to referee input on the current iteration. For them to listen and then junk something a few years later without much justification could backfire. Second, the design is relatively simple and straightforward so barring some random desire for something more complicated, I’m not sure where they would go right now. This sort of dovetails with where Adidas has been since 2014–simple styles are in (Nike, too). We are in an era of simplicity, relatively speaking. This isn’t the 1990s or 2000s. Third, remember OSI had MLS for awhile in the 2000s decade. Today, where are people seeing their kits? There’s no place to really advertise the brand in a major way and make a new kit seem cool or desirable (like OSI did, say; with the introduction of blue and then green, which was the start of the revamp). The latest change from OSI was sellable because it was beneficial to referees from the perspective that the fabric is better. OSI sort of started using more modern technology for its product. Until there is some major upgrade in performance wear that OSI can cost-effectively rollout, I just don’t see a reason for a change from anyone’s perspective. OSI seems more focused right now on increasing its sales of other products.
USSF referee uniforms are not up to OSI. Certainly, they and, probably, the National Referee Committee, can have input but the decision is made by the USSF National Board of Directors.
I think the earliest mention I saw of the last uniform update was in the minutes of a Ussf AGM so that’s probably the first place us lesser beings will see mention.
Yes! I still have some with the white tops. They may need the help of a rubber band to stay up, but they look great!
Jesus. I hope not. We still have some clowns showing up in old shirts. Yes, I chastise them for not updating.
We have one crusty old ref who periodically wears an old yellow on solo adult matches. He ramps up the look by not tucking it in. Every other ref in the area yells at him to tuck it in. I’m pretty sure he’s doing it to get a rise out of us.
Old? How old? Solid orange? In the days of the solid black shirts, with white collars and cuffs, they would age into brown. I worked with one guy who's shirt had gone past brown into almost silver.
I mean the older red would age into a sort of salmon color. And the gold practically became translucent.
In New York, we use the NISOA uniform for high school soccer. A couple years ago when the old grid uniforms were still in use, I did a dual system game with a partner who had taken the high school class the same time that I did in 1999. However, you could tell that he only bought one referee jersey and never replaced it. First, it was a long sleeve jersey on a hot day, and he just pushed up his sleeves. Also, the checkered pattern had really started to fade. The yellow parts of the jersey were a noticeably dull and the parts that were supposed to be black were actually brown. This did convince me of one thing. While I am not advocating frequent changes in the styles of referee jerseys, people should get new ones every so often to maintain a "professional" appearance. The jerseys are not designed to last forever.
Of course, player uniforms are a wear item also. I don't remember the change, but when we made a change to the high school player uniforms, we got complaints that we were forcing them to spend all that money to buy new uniforms. (Sound familiar?) I reminded the schools that uniforms are a wear item and nobody wants to wear the socks that somebody else wore last year, even if they were cleaned. That seemed to put a stop to the complaining. I might note that I get inquiries from schools about whether this particular new uniform is high school legal just about every month of the year. Nike, Adidas, et al. have either a two year or three year cycle for uniforms. (Nike is two, Adidas is three, I don't know about the others.) It forces the clubs to change uniforms that often as well, because you can't get another one of the old style uniforms for the new kid who just joined the team this year. And don't get me started on warm ups. So we're actually lucky that we don't have that short a cycle for uniforms.
Agreed, which makes it all the more annoying when it’s the guy wearing a uniform from 20 years ago that complains about when the new ones come out.
Nah, just the past two different styles, pinstripes, and thicker stripes. 1. Why would you want to wear those old styles when the new ones are much more comfortable and breathable. 2. Its embarrassing to be on a crew when a team comes from out of our region and one of our members (especially if they are the CR) are wearing the old shirts. You've already lost the benefit of the doubt.
It was discussed briefly in the MLS Week 1 thread. Adidas didn’t make a new kit for 2020, and as MassRef pointed out it was a result of them losing the contract with UEFA, so they will probably be going on a 4 year cycle now. PRO/MLS most likely wanted to change something about the referee kits so this was the best option. Much better than what Ligue 1 used to do: shirt, shorts and socks ALL the same color! Looked pretty ridiculous.
For me, heaven will be a ref uniform that never fades, and a perpetually full pot of coffee. Both all black, all the time.
I did not mind when we got rid of the all-black uniforms back in the early 2000s for this very reason. Running around a field on a hot summer day in black was not fun. Of course, I didn't think that we would be changing styles so frequently.