Question Number: 35476

Law 4 - The Players Equipment 4/26/2024

RE: Senior football lower tier ifa Adult

DARRYL FUNSTON of KESH, Northern Ireland United Kingdom asks...

If we lost a cup match on penalties and the opposition goalkeeper was wearing a jersey the same colour as the match officials can we appeal the result?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Darryl,
you can appeal any result, it costs you money, must be in by a certain time and in a certain format and in this case, in my opinion, you would not get a satisfactory conclusion. As referees we do not have anything to do with the appeals, even if our actions or inactions contribute to whether they are initiated by the teams for the various reasonings. To be considered by the committees to act , the LOTG would have to have been altered or illegal players participated! Some teams will counter protest and whether there is a decision to replay or alter a result most often the reality is nothing can be done because the league has no options to reschedule.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Darryl
Thanks for the question.
Any result can be appealed yet very few if any will succeed. The ones that do succeed are an illegal player or an error in Law which is very rare. This is not an error in Law.

It is not unusual or out of the ordinary for goalkeepers to have the same colour jersey as a referee. One can argue that unless they are the same brand that colours will differ succinctly and technically different.
Law 4 tells that if the two goalkeepers’ shirts are the same colour and neither has another shirt, the referee allows the match to be played. The same principle would apply to referee shirts.

I saw three match officials in a game recently and one had a different red that his colleagues due to a different brand. It stood out as distinctly different.
I see it regularly in games where a goalkeeper may have a black jersey and while is is not good practice it does happen many times because there is no changes available. I am aware of spats where goalkeepers would not change jerseys when asked to do so by a referee.

Anyway if it was an issue or a concern in the game it should have been dealt with during the game. I saw a referee recently play a half in a shirt quite close in colour to the home team. The colour was close yet not enough that it was identical or that it truly caused an issue. No player passed he ball to him nor was the referee seen to be close to offside lines. He changed at half team after a home team player mentioned to him about a change.