About Us Official Sports.co.uk were set up by three UK based referees who were tired of being treated as second class citizens by the major kit manufacturers. The long wait, the irregular stock availability and the poor choice of kit led to untold frustration and disappointment. The result was an exhaustive search for a manufacturer that could supply all of our needs and requirements. We also needed a company that did not just manufacture and deliver once or twice a year.
In Official Sports, we have found a company that works exclusively for the supply and development of Referees kit and accessories and like us hold the satisfaction and enjoyment of the referee as the pinnacle of our achievements. Official Sports like Official Sports.co.uk are a company set up by referees so they understand the needs of all officials.
Official Sports USA [OSI] Official Sports was founded in the United States in 1985 at the request of the North American Soccer League and the Major Indoor Soccer League referees. The first Official Sports uniform was made according to the recommendations of MISL referees, and test marketed by them for six months. Based upon this direct referee feedback, full-scale production began in 1986. Since 1985 the appreciation of Official Sports' referee uniforms has grown from the group of professionals who assisted in its development, to the international referee community at every level. Football referees from Europe and the United States now have direct access to quality uniforms and equipment through Official Sports' mail order division and through over 450 soccer specialty stores.
Today, Official Sports not only make the best uniforms, but has an ever-expanding product line of apparel and equipment to serve the every need of the football referee. The company's reputation for quality, committed customer service and product line depth is unequaled in the United States and Europe. At Official Sports, we have developed a long-term relationship with the referee community by being sensitive to, and supporting the needs of, individual referees and organizations face to face, one at a time.
Official Sports has also been a major sponsor and supporter of the United States National Referee Program. In January of 1996, Official Sports was named the Official Uniform & Equipment Supplier of the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NISOA). In June of 1997, Official Sports became the exclusive North and South American Distributor of the SIGNAL BIP electronic referee flag set. The SIGNAL BIP, pioneered and manufactured by a French company called LABEL, is the cutting edge of soccer referee development. In continuous efforts to improve the game, these flags were approved by both UEFA and FIFA and were used to high praise in World Cup France 1998.
In 1998, Official Sports became the Official Referee Uniform Supplier to the United States Soccer Federation. That same year, Official Sports also became the Official Referee Uniform and Equipment Supplier to the Major Soccer League. In the spring of 2001, Official Sports became the Official Referee Uniform and Equipment supplier to the Women's United Soccer Association. In it unique efforts to being the best and the most to all soccer referees, Official Sports has developed a rep network consisting of 35 soccer referees. This direct rep network has augmented Official Sports' efforts to reach the referee membership at the local level at clinics, tournaments and meetings of all types. Thus, Official Sports has formed a broad reach within the soccer referee community through its personal relationships starting with the professional league referee down through the ranks to the beginning youth at an entry-level clinic. Official Sports is The Soccer Referee Company.
In early 2000, an English, an Irish and an American referee all officiating in England, got together to explore the possibility of opening a firm to supply Referee Kit. They felt that the major manufacturers were overlooking the needs of the Referee in their haste to get the new styles out for the teams. The result, they felt, was long delays in waiting for kit and products which weren't up to scratch. All had familiarity with Official Sports and realised that they had found a company whose only concern was getting the best products out to referees. In March 2001, Official Sports.co.uk came into being.
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