Happened this week at a girls semis in the elite USAF Lonestar Invitational in San Antonio. Lynwood H.S. (CA) came out in road jerseys when they were specifically told they'd be home for this game as all teams on the top of the bracket would be home. My high school Brock H.S. (TX) came out in road jerseys as well. Is the team that comes out in the wrong jerseys and doesn't have access to their home jersey supposed to get a technical foul in this situation? Is it a discretionary tech? I've heard that a T should have been called and heard that it was a decision whether or not TO call one. Thanks in advance.

Mike

What colour were the jerseys??

The home team should wear light-colored shirts and the visiting team dark ones. Whoever violates the rule is supposed to change. If the team that is supposed to change doesn't have any other uni's availalable, then get the other team to change, if they do have a different colored shirt available. If neither team has a contrasting colored shirt to change into, then, as a ref, you just let 'em play and do the best job that you can. Iow, it's not a biggie, let the kids play, and tell the bickering coaches to grow up(just kidding on that). As long as a team's shirts are approximately the same solid color, there's no T listed that I know of for wearing them and also there's no T listed for not having a second set of shirts with them. The shirts aren't illegal, which would be a T on every player who wore one when they entered the game(have fun with that if you ever call it).

Mike, some wars needn't be fought. Welcome to the forum.

[Edited by Jurassic Referee on Dec 5th, 2004 at 09:14 AM]

No Mike, there is no T.

3-4-6 NOTE:
"The home team should wear light-colored uniforms and the visiting team dark. The team that violates this policy should change. If there is doubt, the officials should request the home team to change; on a neutral floor the officials decide. Beginning in 2007-08, the home team shall wear white jerseys and the visiting team, dark jerseys."

As the others have stated there is no rule in the book that states a technical can or even should be assessed for violating this rule.
I have been instructed to play the game in a situation where one of the teams violates this policy and then file a report with the state association or league governing body.

However, I did think of a rule that might allow an official to assess a technical foul here:

Rule 10 Fouls and Penalties
Section 1 Team Technical
Article 5 ... Allow the game to develop into an actionless contest, this includes the following and similar acts:
a. When the clock is not running consuming a full minute through not being ready when it is time to start either half.

I'm thinking that if changing jerseys delays the start of the game by more than a full minute, a T could be justified.
I don't see this situation arising though as any decent official will be on the floor 15 minutes prior to the scheduled tip-off and will address the jersey color issue shortly thereafter.

Thanks guys. Just curious about the whole thing. Couldn't ever find out from anyone what color the other team's jersey was, but it was dark in color and I imagine it was a hard to follow for the players as well as the refs.

Mike

You're kidding, right?