The Color Of Money ...

[BillyMac]

I observed a boys high school varsity game yesterday. Home team had white uniforms (jerseys, and shorts). White jerseys had white numbers with a thin (1/4 inch?) black border.

As an observer, I found these numbers to be very difficult to read, and was glad that I was not officiating the game. I figured that these had to be illegal, so I looked it up and was confused by the rule (below):

3-4-3-E: No more than three colors may be used on the number. The style of the
number must be clearly visible and conform to one of the following:
1. A solid contrasting color with no more than two solid color 1/4-inch
borders around the entire number. If the team jersey color is used as a
border, it must be counted as one of the allowed colors.
2. The team jersey color itself when bordered with not more than two 1/4-
inch solid border(s) contrasting with the team jersey color.
3. A solid contrasting color with a "shadow" trim of a contrasting color on
part of the number not to exceed 1/2 inch in width and may be used
with one 1/4-inch border.

Are these number colors legal according to Article 2 above ("team jersey color itself")? I can't believe that the NFHS would allow such difficult-to-read numbers. Every time the officials called a foul they had to look twice to make sure that they had the correct number.