UNIFORMS and UNIFORM COSTS reivsed 08/14/04
| In order to officiate for UOA, you'll need a complete uniform. Fortunately for the new referee, there are several sporting goods stores in the area as well as some high quality national mail order houses who cater to the needs of new football officials. Listed below are some approximate prices for equipment you'll need right away along with some optional equipment you can do without for a while, but need to get either later in the season or at least before the start of your second year. The prices are for individual items, ordered from mail order houses. Luckily both mail order and local stores usually put together "starter sets" that can save you 2-10% on the prices shown here, and these sets generally throw in a few extra handy items, too (like hat liners), to make the packages even more attractive. |
| Total estimated price of starter set equipment | $169.00 |
| Total estimated price of mid-season gear | $116.00 |
| Total estimated price of optional equipment | $28.00 |
| GRAND TOTAL (use most of it for years!) | $307.00 |
| There are a couple of important cautions here. First, the nature of youth ball is that you'll be doing from 4 to 6 games in a typical Saturday assignment. Some Saturdays you might even do 7 games. All but one, or at the most two, of these games you'll be on your feet and running lots of 20 to 60 yard sprints. If you scrimp on your shoes, you will be very sorry. Be sure to buy a good, high quality pair of officials shoes. Do not buy any "$19 Specials" for any reason. You will soon be sore footed. And no one on your crew will care a bit about your bad wheels. |
| Second, the local folks who tend to cater to the officials trade stock their stores for football only once per year. If you need a uniform, don't wait until the day before you first need it to try to buy it. You will almost certainly be disappointed to find that one or more of your essential items will not be in stock. In effect you'll be up a creek without the proverbial paddle. We are lucky that at least a couple of the better suppliers will be willing to come to one or two of our meetings to take orders and deliver goods. If you're not sure you can get around to a store that stocks what you need, be sure to buy your first uniform from one of these folks. UOA doesn't get any money from these folks. We don't endorse them, either. Theirs is a totally separate business. Bur generally they're run by people who are themselves officials. They'll threat you fairly and see that you get what you need as long as you'll give them enough lead time to do it before their season gets going, too. If you don't care to buy your equipment locally, that's OK, too. There are many excellent equipment vendors available on the internet or through catalogs. You might want to look some of them up through the link: Index to Equipment Sources. |
MANDATORY EQUIPMENT (Starter Set)
| White official's shorts (1 pair) | $22.00 |
| Short sleeved football official's shirt | 25.00 |
| Black tee shirt (under garment) | 8.00 |
| Good quality whistle with lanyard | 8.00 |
| Plastic (erasable) game card | 5.00 |
| Penalty flag with clip attachment | 7.00 |
| Black colored belt | 8.00 |
| Good quality official's shoes (1 pair) | 52.00 |
| White (Referee's) hat, fitted | 11.00 |
| Black (other official's) hat, with white piping, fitted | 11.00 |
| Official's socks (1 pair, 1 piece), modified NW stripe | 6.00 |
| Shipping/handling | 6.00 |
| Total estimated price of starter set equipment | $169.00 |
EQUIPMENT NEEDED BY MID-SEASON
| Knickers (1 pair) | $27.00 |
| Official's striped jacket | 55.00 |
| Long sleeved official's shirt | 28.00 |
| Shipping/handling | 6.00 |
| Total estimated price of mid-season gear | $116.00 |
OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT (good to have by start of your second season)
| Chain clip disk | $ 9.00 |
| Extra penalty flag (plain, without clip) | 6.00 |
| Countdown timer (back counting stopwatch) | 8.00 |
| Down counter (wristband) | 5.00 |
| Total estimated price of optional equipment | $28.00 |
| GRAND TOTAL (use most of it for years!) | $307.00 |
| In addition to all the above, you'll find there are lots of personal preference items that will be good to have. Items like this are an extra pair of shoes and socks to use for inclement weather. Having a good set of soft athletic shoe inserts for your shoes is a popular way to keep your feet feeling "happy" all day. A backup whistle is nice in case yours breaks while you're on the field (like in the middle of a play!). Second copies of shorts, knickers, under shirt and the short sleeved official's shirt are nice to have, as are some warmer under garments for those cold November games. And of course, you will want an equipment bag of some sort to carry all your gear in. Once you're really into the game, you may even want to get a specialized countdown timer for timing delay of game and time out periods. There is really no big hurry to get hold of any of this kind of stuff. In fact, during your first season, you'll be learning your own preferences and needs better than anyone else can tell you up front. You'll find lots of officials in UOA with plenty of ideas and helpful hints that they've learned over the years. Listen to all these ideas and hints; and then make your own judgements about what is right for you. |