Guidelines have been issued regarding referees’ use of coloured shirts from the 2018/19 season, confirming that match officials will now be allowed to wear an alternative non-black shirt colour on certain fixtures.

Information has been sent to league referee secretaries to explain that, following consultation with the Essex County FA Council, alternative colours are permitted on Essex-affiliated fixtures below Supply League level (i.e. Essex Senior League and Eastern Counties League Premier Division).

This applies to shirts only, as shorts and socks will remain black. Officials will still be expected to have a black referee shirt, and they will need to revert back to this where there is a clash of colours between the match referee and the teams.

Following the release of new referee shirt colours over the summer, it became clear the previously-permitted ‘Jade Green’ is now no longer readily available. Therefore, the County FA’s Referees Department submitted a proposal to Council to authorise Essex match officials to be eligible to wear any coloured shirt as an alternative to the traditional black.

For fixtures involving competitions with neutrally-appointed assistant referees (i.e. Essex & Suffolk Border and ProKit UK Essex Olympian League Premier Divisions and Essex County Cups) all officials must be in the same colour, either black or the approved green (now known as ‘Volt’), otherwise they must all revert back to wearing black.

For further clarification, call James Lisher on (01245) 393097, E-Mail james.lisher@essexfa.com or read the guidelines below. Refereeing news and information can also be found on Twitter via @EssexCountyFA and by searching for ‘EssexFootball’ on Facebook.