Kit clashes & Stripes

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e17blade

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I have seen mention on a couple of threads about wayward passing against Newcastle and thought I’d ask a question...

Does anyone else struggle with identifying players when we play another team wearing stripes?

It’s a bit different for me because I’m colour blind (red-green colour blind to be precise). I can 100% definitely tell the difference between the red and black stripes when I look at the kits next to each other - and for that matter red and blue when we play Wednesday - but in a situation where things are moving quickly or when I just get a quick glance of something, I really struggle. A lot.

Being colour blind I obviously notice moments in life where I get things wrong due to colour, but I also notice moments when other people seem to as well. These moments usually occur within fast moving situations that call for instinctive reactions. My thinking is that all of you with properly working vision are switched off to this nuance as you take colour completely for granted and never ever consider making a mistake based on colour.

As an example of unthinking use of colour...

Me: which person is Bob?
My wife: he’s the guy in the red shirt
Me: I can’t tell which shirt is red
My wife: he is standing next to the woman in the green dress.

And she knows I’m colour blind!

I ran a football team for years and I got to choose the kit, so we played in BRIGHT yellow and I really think it helped. I also remember reading at the time an article stating that our classic 1990 away kit helped the players because you could instantly spot teammates even by the slightest glance out of the corner of your eye, and also that opponents could too, so they felt increasingly closed down.

It is only a small thing, but I think there is something in it. Marginal gains and all that.

Please note that I am NOT blaming this for our wayward passing against Newcastle - it’s the same for both teams after all. Having said that, we play a lot more quick ‘triangle passes’ than Newcastle so that would make us more susceptible to this issue. I don’t buy the shorts and socks difference thing helping either - it helps a bit on TV from a wider angle, but not close up at speed

It’s probably just me though!

UTB
 



I’m red green colour bind and I agree with e17blade about the difficulty with stripes. One of the problems with that type of colour blindness is that I find it impossible to read shirt numbers when the numbers are printed onto the stripes - particularly when the player is at a distance, say, further distant than the near penalty area. Because of this I like the solid colours on the back of the shirts as it means I can actually read them! My personal shirt preference is the early 1970s era shirt with the numbers printed on a big white square on a striped shirt. And of course black shorts never white shorts.
 
Yep another colour blind one here who struggles. There was a bit of a movement to get things sorted a few years ago but it seems to have died a death.

I’ve really struggled if we’ve ever played teams in green!

Remember trying to watch Liverpool v Ludogorets in the Champions League a few seasons ago and had no chance.
 
I agree. I mentioned something similar in the match thread yesterday.

I did actually write to the Premier League earlier in the season after the Brighton game at home and said how I really struggled to tell the difference between the players from behind due to the colour of the Brighton strip (which was green) being very close to the solid colour of the United kit and both teams wearing same shorts and socks.

In fairness yesterday, United did wear different coloured shorts which was my biggest complaint so not sure if that message got through.

Apparently there is a group within the Premier League that studies this sort of thing and makes recommendations and my comments were passed to the group.
 
I’m not alone!!

I once said to a stranger at a home match against Liverpool that “I can’t believe they let them play in their red home kit”. He looked a bit non-plussed and said... “their kit is green”!

Sporting contest that is the biggest waste of time watching... Wales v Ireland at rugby. Utterly pointless for me.
 
I suppose it doesn't help that all the shirts come from so few companies now. If the design was different, even if the colours were still red or black, I'm guessing that might have helped. If one had more stripes of different thickness, if one had a solid colour across the shoulders, if we had the old tie up neck with black pin stripes - if it was a little more varied (characterful) and less corporate - maybe that'd help?
 
"Please note that I am NOT blaming this for our wayward passing against Newcastle - it’s the same for both teams after all. Having said that, we play a lot more quick ‘triangle passes’ than Newcastle so that would make us more susceptible to this issue. "
 
"Please note that I am NOT blaming this for our wayward passing against Newcastle - it’s the same for both teams after all. Having said that, we play a lot more quick ‘triangle passes’ than Newcastle so that would make us more susceptible to this issue. "
That’s what the OP said..
 
"Please note that I am NOT blaming this for our wayward passing against Newcastle - it’s the same for both teams after all. Having said that, we play a lot more quick ‘triangle passes’ than Newcastle so that would make us more susceptible to this issue. "

Both those things can be correct. It could make a small difference but also not be cause of the defeat.
 
I struggled a bit to be honest. Surprised we didn't play in yellow.
 
Also colour blind but I have no issues... People who are colour blind can normally pick people out easier when the colours are simular.
 



I have seen mention on a couple of threads about wayward passing against Newcastle and thought I’d ask a question...

Does anyone else struggle with identifying players when we play another team wearing stripes?

It’s a bit different for me because I’m colour blind (red-green colour blind to be precise). I can 100% definitely tell the difference between the red and black stripes when I look at the kits next to each other - and for that matter red and blue when we play Wednesday - but in a situation where things are moving quickly or when I just get a quick glance of something, I really struggle. A lot.

Being colour blind I obviously notice moments in life where I get things wrong due to colour, but I also notice moments when other people seem to as well. These moments usually occur within fast moving situations that call for instinctive reactions. My thinking is that all of you with properly working vision are switched off to this nuance as you take colour completely for granted and never ever consider making a mistake based on colour.

As an example of unthinking use of colour...

Me: which person is Bob?
My wife: he’s the guy in the red shirt
Me: I can’t tell which shirt is red
My wife: he is standing next to the woman in the green dress.

And she knows I’m colour blind!

I ran a football team for years and I got to choose the kit, so we played in BRIGHT yellow and I really think it helped. I also remember reading at the time an article stating that our classic 1990 away kit helped the players because you could instantly spot teammates even by the slightest glance out of the corner of your eye, and also that opponents could too, so they felt increasingly closed down.

It is only a small thing, but I think there is something in it. Marginal gains and all that.

Please note that I am NOT blaming this for our wayward passing against Newcastle - it’s the same for both teams after all. Having said that, we play a lot more quick ‘triangle passes’ than Newcastle so that would make us more susceptible to this issue. I don’t buy the shorts and socks difference thing helping either - it helps a bit on TV from a wider angle, but not close up at speed

It’s probably just me though!

UTB
I’m also colour blind and generally don’t have an issue watching teams on tv, but inside the ground, especially when both sides have a shirt with a solid back I sometimes have difficulty.

I never had a problem identifying the shirts when I used to play, I just wasn’t good enough to pick a pass to my team mates
 
Just watching Liverpool v Villa on MOTD2 and I am really struggling with the kit clash. What’s wrong with their light blue away kit?
 
We could have used the yellow kit at new castle
 
Reassuring for me this knowing that Colour Blindness is so popular. My little lad is. Never been tested as he's only 5 but we know he is. He struggles with Reds, Green & Browns. But then he also struggles with Pink & Blue. He coloured all the faces on a picture he was doing Sky Blue instead of pink skin colour.

Must be so frustrating.
 
As an example of unthinking use of colour...

Me: which person is Bob?
My wife: he’s the guy in the red shirt
Me: I can’t tell which shirt is red
My wife: he is standing next to the woman in the green dress.

And she knows I’m colour blind!

UTB

In the early days of colour telly, "Whispering" Ted Lowe, the snooker commentator once said, "and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green."

My father-in-law was colour-blind in the green spectrum I think.

He was in REME from 1950-1975 and rose to WOII so had a great deal of responsibility for teaching cadets, the intricacies of all things electrical and mechanical. Quite often he would be training them on fixing radios etc and he would need to replace a resistor in one of his training sessions. Not being 100% sure which one to choose and not wanting to look anything other than the consummate professional he was, he would "test" the cadets by asking them which resistor was which, and why (by understanding the colour-coding) from a selection he showed them. obviously this helped him compensate for the colour-blindness.

For those who haven't a clue what a resistor is or looks like, see the image and you'll notice the stripes representing different colours vary, thus indicating different properties of each resistor.

No I haven't a clue what those properties are..

maxresdefault.jpg
 
Reassuring for me this knowing that Colour Blindness is so popular. My little lad is. Never been tested as he's only 5 but we know he is. He struggles with Reds, Green & Browns. But then he also struggles with Pink & Blue. He coloured all the faces on a picture he was doing Sky Blue instead of pink skin colour.

Must be so frustrating.

Roughly 1 in 12 males have some degree of colour blindness, so it is much more common than people think. That so many people have defective colour vision (and do not know it is sort of my original point.

It barely ever makes much of a practical difference to be honest. Not allowed to fly a helicopter, but I’ll get over that.
 
During the Newcastle game both of my daughters and I had difficulty distinguishing the black and white and red and white. We all said the passing was going to the opposition and not wayward passing (over hit or under hit) for both sides. It does affect both sides but I don’t think it doesn’t do anything for that particular game.
 
With 1 in 12 men experiencing some form of colour blindness, there is guidance from the FA (non compulsory) related to kit clashes. Matt Holland’s experienced that, though not sure his colour blindness was publicly known when he played. They actually specifically highlight red vs black combinations as an issue.

While not an exhaustive list, the kit combinations which cause the greatest problems for colour-blind people are:
  • Red v black
  • Red v green v orange
  • Bright green v yellow
  • White v pastel colours - Blue v deep purple/pink
RED v BLACK
(including stripes/patterned kit)


This photo taken from the document below shows what our a red & white Macron kit a while back looks like for someone affected by red colour blindness.

678D793C-3767-4FC1-992A-B635B987DC5B.jpeg

 
During the Newcastle game both of my daughters and I had difficulty distinguishing the black and white and red and white. We all said the passing was going to the opposition and not wayward passing (over hit or under hit) for both sides. It does affect both sides but I don’t think it doesn’t do anything for that particular game.
If we hadn't had that black and white away kit last time we were in the Premier League, we might not have gone down!
 
Anyone fancy a few frames?

Foul. 4 to LYDON

When I play snooker I always put a bit of chalk on the brown ball. Or tell my opponent to keep an eye out for me going wrong before I play.

I don’t play snooker much.

I once hit a luminous orange golf ball on the first at Beauchief and as soon as it dropped below the skyline it completely disappeared. It was in the middle of the fairway but I couldn’t find it.
 



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