Referees trade shoes during MLS match
August 7, 2016
If the shoe fits… pic.twitter.com/CE3NaERT06
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 7, 2016
In the 19th minute of a match between Real Salt Lake and the Chicago Fire, play was halted and two of the referee’s assistants met in the center circle and began taking off their shoes. This, needless to say, is a strange occurrence.
Stranger still, the two men then put on each other’s shoes and returned to their positions. It seemed the linesman needed a bit more grip than his shoes were offering, so he swapped with the fourth official because, well, fourth officials could wear bunny slippers and it wouldn’t really matter. The match then continued without any further shoe swapping between the officials, who all apparently wear the same size by some remarkable coincidence.
There are many layers to the strangeness of this situation.