Grey Shirts

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by tjones1

Nevadaref has provided the official's uniform reference... the shirt seems to meet the requirement....your thoughts for use in Fed games?

I don't really have a firm opinion on the wide-panel zebra shirt. I do know that the NCAA modified their rule book to explicitly allow the wearing of it a couple of years ago. So perhaps without a similar change in the NFHS book, this shirt should be considered not to meet the current standards.

On the other hand it is hard to argue that it is not a black and white striped shirt! So my thoughts on the actual wearing of it are:

1. It should only be worn if the ENTIRE crew is wearing it. The officials are a team and their uniform needs to be the same. I have seen a couple of HS games in which only one official on the court wore this shirt and it did make him stand out.

2. The thick black stripe IS noticeable. It stands out every time an official raises his arm for a foul or violation. If that side of the official's body is facing the table, the coaches especially take notice of the different look. This was particularly true in the game that I mentioned in #1. So much so that one coach became upset because he felt that whenever "the official with the stripe" made a call it went against his team. He became fixated on the guy with the stripe and it eventually led to his removal.

3. At this time people in the basketball community do understand this shirt to be a "college shirt." I'm would be wary of giving the impression that the officials are big timing the HS game by wearing it.

4. There will be some adjustment period visually, but as this shirt becomes more prevalent the problem of #3 should disappear as people get used to seeing this style of jersey on the officials. That is normal for any change.