Saints Must Wear Third Kit At Wembley Due To Petty EFL Rule
As revealed yesterday Leeds United as the highest finishing team in the Championship regular season had first choice of kit, however now it emerges that Southampton will have to change to their third kit due to bureaucracy.
The rules were clear on who would get to wear their home kit for the Championship at Wembley, as the side that finished the highest in the division, Leeds got the choice.
But it was assumed that Saints would still be able to wear their home shirts and shorts as they did not clash with Leeds all white kit, however the usual home socks of white would need to be changed to either red or black, both colours that Saints have worn before.
But Southampton FC News have revealed that this will not be the case.
This is due to a bizarre ruling from the EFL that says clubs have to notify the EFL prior to the start of the season the details on any kits they will be wearing throughout the campaign.
EFL Regulation 39.1 stipulates:
"During the Close Season, each Club shall notify The League in writing details of its ‘home’ and ‘away’ kit (shirt, shorts and socks) and if applicable any ‘third’ set of kit. Each set of kit registered must differ visibly from and contrast with each other kit registered by the Club in that Season. No changes either in the kit or combination of colours of kits shall be permitted during the course of the Season."
However it appears that this rule was ignored by West Brom in the 2nd leg of the semi final, when they changed their usual white socks which would have clashed with Saints to navy blue so they could wear their home kit at St Mary's.
As it stands Saints cannot wear their 2nd kit of white for obvious reasons, so that means that they will have to change to the 3rd kit of all black, not the most colourful kit in the book.
You would hope that Saints are still in dialogue with the EFL and are citing the case of West Brom as evidence that the rule could be changed, although I suspect that the Baggies got in under the EFL radar and just wore the change socks and it was then too late to change.
However at this late stage and with the programmes for the event about to go to print, I would suspect that the EFL will hold firm on their bizarre ruling and Southampton will have to play in black.
This is not the end of the world, it didn't affect us when we beat Leeds 2-1 at Elland Road on the final day of the season and also given that there is no clash with the two clubs traditional colours, Saints fans can make Wembley a sea of red & white.
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