Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

[ad hoc]

As a noun I meant in the context of football, But fair point

[Capybara]

Was 'kit' originally the stuff you need to play the game so implies not just the clothing but also boots and shin pads? Perhaps that's where the word came from, whereas 'strip' was just the clothing. Other than that, 'kit' and 'strip' have meant the same thing for as long as I can remember. And when did 'stockings' become 'socks'? I certainly remember the former in my time, and as for 'knickers' ...

Anyway, as regards the away team changing colours when there's a clash, I'm fairly sure I remember that as being a rule in the FA Cup when I was little as I'm sure I remember Middlesbrough playing in white when they were at home to Bristol City in 1968. And if you check out Boro v Sunderland in the FA Cup in 1975 (it's on YouTube) you'll see Boro wearing their change strip and Sunderland in all white.

Oh, go on then. Alan Weeks is the commentator:

[sw2borshch]

Those blue shorts. We look like a bizarre Bishop Auckland.

[sw2borshch]

We say to strip off or down but not kit off or down. Though we do say to kit out.

As you were...

And we get our kits off, but strip off.

[Ray de Galles]

It's not about branding though is it? The word "strip" (which to me is interchangeable with kit in all instances - or at least all that have been suggested on this thread) predates the idea of branding. It's just a word. If marketers use it (I contend they would use kit just as often) that's not really the fault of the word or its other, more traditional users

Marketing people would use "shirt" before "kit" or "strip" anyway because that's what is identified as symbolic of a club. "Fight/die for the shirt" and "You're not fit to wear the shirt" etc.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Was 'kit' originally the stuff you need to play the game so implies not just the clothing but also boots and shin pads? Perhaps that's where the word came from, whereas 'strip' was just the clothing. Other than that, 'kit' and 'strip' have meant the same thing for as long as I can remember. And when did 'stockings' become 'socks'? I certainly remember the former in my time, and as for 'knickers' ...

Anyway, as regards the away team changing colours when there's a clash, I'm fairly sure I remember that as being a rule in the FA Cup when I was little as I'm sure I remember Middlesbrough playing in white when they were at home to Bristol City in 1968. And if you check out Boro v Sunderland in the FA Cup in 1975 (it's on YouTube) you'll see Boro wearing their change strip and Sunderland in all white.

Oh, go on then. Alan Weeks is the commentator:

The FA Cup rules — in the Dark Ages when I wuz a young 'un — were that if there was a colour clash both teams wore change kits. I think that applied in the League Cup too. Which explains the mighty QPR (wearing all white) beat WBA (wearing all red*) in the '67 final.

*They never wore red again after that. Can't think why ; )

[tee rex]

Every word of this could be taken from a stock report on football, except one:

One non-negotiable element that [the coach] laid down early was the level of fitness she expects from any player who wants to wear the black dress. If you don't meet that standard, then it's very simple; you don't get selected, you're dropped or you're sent home from camp.

(NZ netball)

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Sounds like something Phil neville used to say when he managed the lionesses, particularly "non negotiable"

[Satchmo Distel]

Is the clash of colours always flagged up before the away team travels? If not, it makes sense that the home team makes the change rather than the away team having to bring two kits just in case.

What happens if the colours clash with those of the officials?

[Southport Zeb]

Is the clash of colours always flagged up before the away team travels? If not, it makes sense that the home team makes the change rather than the away team having to bring two kits just in case.

The FA standardised rules (applicable to all competitions from steps 1-6) basically say that the away team should, before travelling, check the league handbook to make sure that there won't be a clash, and should take extra steps if they are going to wear something different to their normal away kit.

7.1 On or before a date specified by the Company each year, every Club shall notify the Competition Secretary, in writing, of details of their first choice colours (shirts, shorts and socks) and such details shall be printed in the Handbook published by the Company for the ensuing Playing Season. The colours registered by each Club shall be worn during the following season when playing at home. Shirts must be numbered [1 to 16 (or 17 where 13 is excluded)] or [in accordance with the Competition squad numbering provision] such that the numbers can be clearly identified by officials and spectators. Striped, hooped or otherwise patterned shirts shall have numbers affixed to contrasting patches or numbers in a contrasting colour with bold outline. No changes to the first choice colours or combination of colours shall be permitted without the consent of the Board.

7.2 When the registered colours of shirts shorts or socks of two competing Clubs are alike or similar the visiting Club shall change the relevant item to a colour which does not clash with the corresponding item of the home Club. Neck and cuff trim colours on shirts shall not be regarded as a basic colour for the purpose of this Rule.

Subject to the foregoing a Club may, if they wish, wear colours not registered with the Competition for away matches. It is the responsibility of the visiting Club, if they do not intend to play in their registered colours, to notify the home team and check that their colours will not clash.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I expect all this gets sorted before the day of the match, particularly now with goalkeeper kits complicating things further.

Back in the day Carlisle had to wear Bury's away strip when they turned up at Gigg Lane with a kit that was too similar to Bury's home strip. And we played in a never seen again combo of yellow shirts and blue shorts in the famous Auto Windscreens northern final away leg at Huddersfield. "It's just like watching Brazil", we gleefully sang at the start, not realising that it was going to be like watching Brazil in the 2014 semi final.

[Janik]

It should be. But the ref also has to be comfortable (s)he can discern the difference. Take, for example, Charlton-Plymouth two weeks ago. Not a problem... unless any of the officials were red-green colour blind. And that wouldn’t necessarily be something everyone thinks of in advance (Plymouth wore white for the game as it happens, so presumably they were conscious of the potential issue). Then there are ones that are not obvious clashes on paper, but turn out to be in practice - such as two distinct but both dark shades against low, bright sunlight.

I believe the league authorities ask clubs for much greater detail than just a single word to describe their shirt colours, but even so it won’t pre-empt every eventuality.

[1974ddr]

The FA Cup rules — in the Dark Ages when I wuz a young 'un — were that if there was a colour clash both teams wore change kits. I think that applied in the League Cup too. Which explains the mighty QPR (wearing all white) beat WBA (wearing all red*) in the '67 final.

*They never wore red again after that. Can't think why ; )

Ah, but they have, on numerous occasions. This picture is from 2014-15, and that's quite a red kit. Or strip.

In the early Middle Ages, when I played club hockey ('field' hockey, for any Americans out there) the convention was that the away side always wore white shirts, the home side their club colours and thus in theory there should never be a clash as no club wore white as their 'home' shirt. I assume it wasn't allowed, in the same way as football teams weren't allowed to wear black until referees started wearing dayglo colours.

[1974ddr]

I expect all this gets sorted before the day of the match, particularly now with goalkeeper kits complicating things further.

Back in the day Carlisle had to wear Bury's away strip when they turned up at Gigg Lane with a kit that was too similar to Bury's home strip. And we played in a never seen again combo of yellow shirts and blue shorts in the famous Auto Windscreens northern final away leg at Huddersfield. "It's just like watching Brazil", we gleefully sang at the start, not realising that it was going to be like watching Brazil in the 2014 semi final.

There was a celebrated incident of this back in 1968, when Derby travelled to Millwall. Derby took their usual white shirts on the trip to London, only to discover on arrival that Millwall had changed from their traditional blue to an all-white kit that season. As Derby hadn't packed their change kit they had to borrow Millwall's change kit of red shirts. This was immortalised, for anyone with an interest in gum cards, in the A&BC set the following year which featured Derby's Dave Mackay and Willie Carlin, both proudly sporting red Millwall shirts.

[Gas In Name Only]

Rovers' infamous 8-2 win at the Goldstone when Brian Clough was in charge there was achieved wearing Brighton's away kit of yellow and blue, BRFC's then change colours of red(!) and white stripes being deemed a clash with the home side's stripes as the game was chosen for ITV's Big Match coverage and many were still watching in black and white. Many Rovers fans refuse to believe that we ever wore red as an away kit but it was the case from 68-74 I believe. Couldn't happen now, there'd be uproar.

The two occasions I can remember away sides wearing our own change kit at the Mem are 2001/2 when Rochdale showed up with only their home shirts and donned our horrible stone and black quartered away colours, becoming the only team to win a match in that kit ever. The second occasion was even worse - when Mansfield arrived in BS7 for the final game of the 2013/14 season, they turned up with their away kit of blue and so had to wear our yellow away shirts. With Rovers needing only a point to secure safety, Mansfield won 1-0 and thus relegated us from the Football League whilst wearing our own shirts, which rather added insult to the considerable injury.

[Various Artist]

It should be. But the ref also has to be comfortable (s)he can discern the difference. Take, for example, Charlton-Plymouth two weeks ago. Not a problem... unless any of the officials were red-green colour blind. And that wouldn’t necessarily be something everyone thinks of in advance (Plymouth wore white for the game as it happens, so presumably they were conscious of the potential issue). Then there are ones that are not obvious clashes on paper, but turn out to be in practice - such as two distinct but both dark shades against low, bright sunlight.

I believe the league authorities ask clubs for much greater detail than just a single word to describe their shirt colours, but even so it won’t pre-empt every eventuality.

This chimes with what I've been led to believe has happened over recent years, which is that the emphasis is more on tonal clashes rather than colour clashes per se. It'd be interesting to hear from Greenlander say, if Plymouth nowadays routinely wear white rather than green against teams playing in red, for instance.

[Sunderporinostesta]

Can we get back to abusing the mags please?

[Felicity, I guess so]

Those of us who never stop doing so can't help but look forward to their next run of fixtures

[Simon G]

This chimes with what I've been led to believe has happened over recent years, which is that the emphasis is more on tonal clashes rather than colour clashes per se. It'd be interesting to hear from Greenlander say, if Plymouth nowadays routinely wear white rather than green against teams playing in red, for instance.

Just did a quick Google search, and recent games between Cheltenham and Plymouth at Whaddon Road have seen them wearing their change strip (albeit one was a brighter green than their home kit). We also wore our change strip the last time we played them at Home Park.

We play them on Boxing Day at Whaddon Road so I'll be ready to explain to my uncle that the reason their wearing their change strip is because of potential colour blindness issues.

[Janik]

Something like 8% of the male population, and 0.5% of the female, are red-green colour blind. So with any set of all-male match officials, the chances that one won’t be able to discern a difference between red and green are quite high (nearly 30% for a four person officiating team).

Article here with some interesting stuff and re-coloured images:- https://www.colourblindawareness.org...and-equipment/

[Belhaven]

Red and green were often the default colours when making diagrams, but are for the reason of colour blindness increasingly being replaced by orange and blue. You'd think traffic lights would be more critical, but they are still green and red, at least where I loive.

[Lang Spoon]

At least they are clear from where they are on the traffic light.

[Sheep]

You'd think traffic lights would be more critical, but they are still green and red, at least where I loive.

Nice illustration of the benefits of redundant encoding. The position of the red or green light within the traffic light also suffices for giving the information you need, without looking at the color.

[Sunderporinostesta]

This throws a new slant on Kevin Rowlands request to be informed of his lights colouring.

[Greenlander]

This chimes with what I've been led to believe has happened over recent years, which is that the emphasis is more on tonal clashes rather than colour clashes per se. It'd be interesting to hear from Greenlander say, if Plymouth nowadays routinely wear white rather than green against teams playing in red, for instance.

Just seen this.

There really is no sense to which colour we wear and when. To take my last two aways, Morecambe wore red with white shorts and we were in our green and black while at Accrington who were all red we were in our white kit, or should that be strip now I'm not too sure.

The biggest issue is our green and black under floodlights. We had a terrible home run where we couldn't steal a win on Tuesday evenings and actually got permission from the FL to wear our white away shirt at Home Park.

However apparently green and red is not that much of an issue, my mate and his son who both have serious sight issues coupled with colour blindness really struggle when we're up against teams in dark blue especially if they also wear dark shorts.