As most of you are aware, USSF debuted a new style of referee jersey at the 2007 MLS Cup. Are you buying?
I’m hoping to be invited to referee at Youth Regionals in June, so I feel it’s pretty important to have them for the spring season. For most people, though, there’s just not a lot of reason to spend the money replacing the older style shirts since they will be good for a while - and the phase-out date still hasn’t been announced by USSF.
Because I live in a cool-weather area (mid-Ohio), I waited until early March to to place my orders. I figured Official Sports’ backlog would be cleared by then. WRONG! I initially ordered (all in Medium):
- Long sleeve gold Pro shirt
- Short sleeve gold Pro shirt
- Short sleeve black Pro shirt
- Short sleeve red Pro shirt
- New-style USSF Coolwick short
- 1 pair of new-style USSF-logo socks
So far, I’ve received the short sleeve red Pro shirt. OSI shipped my short sleeve gold Pro shirt and the shorts last Thursday and I expect them any day now. When I called OSI late last week, they estimated another 2-3 weeks on the long sleeve gold Pro shirt and the short sleeve black Pro shirt. Now. . .even though I live in a cooler-weather state, it doesn’t stay cold forever. If the long sleeve gold Pro shirt wouldn’t arrive until mid-April, it’s really not much use to me for the spring. By then, I’ll be in short sleeves most of the time. So I had them change the order and replace the long sleeve yellow Pro shirt with a short sleeve blue Pro shirt. Since I do have a set of older-style long sleeve shirts, I’ll just use those for the few matches I’ll have until the weather gets warm enough for short sleeves all the time. I’ll just order the set of new-style long sleeve shirts come fall. So. . .right now I’m waiting another 2-3 weeks for my short sleeve black Pro shirt and until late April for the short sleeve blue Pro shirt. So much for waiting for OSI’s backlog to clear.
As an outsider looking in, I’m having a tough time understanding why OSI is still so heavily backordered at this point. The new style shirts were announced on November 18 - over four months ago. Did they just really underestimate the demand? Did their suppliers have problems somewhere along the line? But my kneejerk reaction is that four months on, why are there still so many problems metting demand?
What’s your experience and opinion with the new shirts and the ordering (or backordering) process from OSI?
On a side note. . .if you don’t mind used shirts, there are some good deals to be found on eBay as us crazy folks sell off some of our old shirts as the new ones come in. If you need a black, red, or blue shirt to round out your kit, then eBay could be a good place to look.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I ordered a full set of short- and long-sleeve Pro jerseys of each color over a period of three months. OSI is shipping out the new jerseys and socks based on order date. You’re lucky you didn’t order one of the new green jerseys: my short-sleeve ordered in mid-February won’t ship until May. In other words, the spring season will be half-over in my area before I get a chance to wear it.
There’s no question that OSI and the Federation have a nice little racket going, but at least some portion of what I spend on the overpriced but USSF-logoed gear goes back to referee development programs (or so I hear). And yes, they were horribly unprepared for the volume of orders they received. What did they expect? They changed all the jersey designs at one time, as well as introduced a new color. I would have loved to see a phased introduction, one color at a time.
I, too, hope to work Regionals this year– I’m also Region II, perhaps I’ll see you in Rockford come June.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Kevin,
Thanks for the comments. Personally, I don’t see a lot of point in the green jersey. Only once or twice have I needed a blue jersey - when a team with yellow/black played a team in red. So the green seems somewhat superflous and unnecessary to me.
On a side note, I’m planning to work the Chicago Magic’s Spring Best Of The Midwest Tournament over Memorial Day weekend in May. Are you planning to be there?
Hope you enjoy the site!
– CSR
March 25th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
CSR: I used to work the Best of the Midwest back when it was in Illinois, one town over from where I live. But since they moved to Indiana last year, I can’t justify the trip when there are other, more local tournaments.
As for the green jerseys, it can’t hurt to be prepared. Come State Cup time, if the Center wants to go green for some reason, I need to be able to match, both in sleeve length and color.
You’ve got the beginnings of a great blog here. I’ve added you to my RSS reader.