Question Number: 31605

Law 4 - The Players Equipment 6/16/2017

RE: Local team Under 15

Jarred Dezilva of Newcastle, New South Wales Australia asks...

Hello, I play for my local club and I have been watching plenty of videos about trusox and how players wear there socks, and I was wondering if that it is allowed to wear a trusox underneath ankle cut socks which are the same colour as the trusox, because I play for a team and they are maroon so I was wondering if I'm allowed to like wear a maroon trusox underneath my team socks which are maroon then wear my stays and shinpads, thank you

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jared
Once the trussox and the tape that secures the sock piping are the same colour then there is no issue.
The problem arises when the tape and trussox are different colours from the sock such as say a white / black trussox under a maroon sock piping secured by say white tape. That would not be allowed or any combination of same
Here is an illegal trussox
http://www.gettyimages.ie/license/628962110
It should not have been allowed yet it was
Here is a legal one
http://www.gettyimages.ie/license/623901496
So the trussox, tape and sock pipe all have to be the same colour or close there to
Now I will say that it is not uniformly enforced by all referees. Some referees adopt a relaxed approach to this as they see it as FIFA fashion policing and as long as the trussock is not the same colour as the opponents sock nor a safety issue they let it slide. The difficulty is that if the player thinks it is okay in one game and another referee does not then it has to be changed as per the Laws and that can cause delay to the player along with debate and animosity
If it is done correctly it does not arise.
Same applies to undershorts. Once the undershorts are same colour as the kit shorts it is not an issue.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Jared,
As far as I can tell, Trusox would fall within the parameters of the part of Law 3 which says, in relation to socks, that "any material applied or worn externally must be the same colour as that part of the sock it is applied to or covers." This being the case, if your Trusox are the same colour as your team socks, they would be fine.