So what was that all about yesterday? This is the Premiership, the most successful, highly marketed football league in the world. This fixture has been on the calender for the best part of nine months and the authorities and both clubs have been aware for God knows how many years that both teams wear the same colours. So what happens? As the two sides start getting changed, it dawns on the referee that the proposed kits are too similar and could lead to him making erroneous decisions.
How? How did we get to the point where Villa were searching for a replacement kit and had to take to the field without names on their shirts?
As if to prove Rob Styles' point, in the final minute, Tomkins and Carew came together in the box and an arm definitely came in contact with the ball. Now it was hard enough for the officials to spot in real time anyway, as was proven by their failure to see it, but had both arms been in sky blue sleeves, it would have been near impossible to say who was the offender. Imagine an arm going up and hitting the ball in a crowded box at a corner; how would a match official determine whose arm it was if both teams were wearing the same coloured sleeves?
This was a crass, stupid, schoolboy error and highlights the fact that there is still a lack of joined up thinking in our game. If we can't even cope with an issue as straightforward as teams wearing different coloured shirts, how on earth can we expect officials and clubs to get their minds around complex issues like third party agreements?
(Caption for the picture above? The one on the right is saying: "What's in the case? My friend's packed lunch.")
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