With the world watching, the biggest Women’s Super League game of the season between Chelsea and Arsenal was delayed due to a clash of socks, labelled “embarrassing”.
The match selected for live broadcast by Sky Sports and moved to a Friday night to capture a larger evening peak-time audience was held-up for 30 minutes as both sides took to the field wearing white socks.
The teams had warmed-up at a packed Stamford Bridge stadium for almost half an hour without anyone spotting the clash. It was only as kick-off approached that the match officials were alerted to the fact that Arsenal, as the away team, had not brought their usual change of red socks.
Without any suitable replacement, the teams were sent back into the changing rooms while Arsenal sought out replacements. It was reported by Sky Sports that Arsenal purchased a set of Chelsea’s away socks from the club’s megastore.
With Arsenal’s kit supplied by Adidas and Chelsea’s by rivals Nike
NKE
, Arsenal were forced to wear their rivals dark blue socks with tape used to hide the Nike logo. The lengthy delay meant both sides had to come back out for a second warm-up before a delayed kick-off, thirty minutes late.
No explanation was provided by Arsenal for the failure to bring the correct color socks. The club had white socks prepared for the game but whenever their men’s team has played at Stamford Bridge, the club had worn red socks and the women’s team has also done so in previous away games at Kingsmeadow, the last time as recently as May 2023.
It is not the first time that a Women’s Super League match has been delayed due to kit issues. In April 2017, Liverpool Ladies traveled to the opposite end of the country to play Yeovil without any strip at all. They eventually played in the yellow away kit of their rivals which also bore all the names and squad numbers of their opponents.
The most high-profile occurrence of a kit-clash came during the men’s World Cup in 1978 when Hungary and France both turned up to their match in Mar del Plata with their change of white shirts. France were forced to take the field in the shirts of local Argentinian team, Club Atlético Kimberley.
On the pitch, the delay seemed to affect Arsenal as they went three goals down to champions and league leaders Chelsea before half-time. Each goal was scrappy with the Arsenal goalkeeper, Manu Zinsberger, failing to push Lauren James’ early shot over the bar and Sjoeke Nüsken fortunately deflecting two long-range shots into the bottom corner of the Arsenal net.
Whatever the result, the delay has harmed the credability of the Women’s Super League and overshadowed what should have been a showpiece occasion for the women’s game. Speaking on Sky Sports, former England player Karen Carney – who has led an independent government review of the women’s game – called the kit-clash “embarrassing”.
“People make mistakes but the game does not need this and it’s frustrating. We’ve waited so long to talk only about football in the women’s game. Arsenal this season, off the pitch, have been magnificent, they have led the way in terms of crowds, attendances, marketing, it’s just a mistake from them.”
“Clearly it’s a human error, a mistake, but it’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for the players and I’m frustrated. This is a massive crowd, a massive game. It’s a simple thing, a kit and we have got it wrong. We will move on and have to, but it does not look good for the game.”
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