What underclothing in cold weather?

[Rich]

I'm sure that I've seen polarised views on this somewhere on the forum, but cannot now find the thread.

Question: When refereeing on cold days (I know, subjective), what do you wear under your referee short sleeved shirt and natty society shorts?

Are long sleeved skins frowned upon....and as for "skins" shorts...is that a complete "no-no"....Or do you turn up wearing a furry onesie, scarf and hat and laugh in the face of the society fashion police?

I have always worn short sleeved skins under my referee shirt but am seriously considering wearing a long sleeved skin and skins shorts...But is the latter a faux pas too far?

thoughts?

 

[TigerCraig]

Only concession I have to cold weather is that when it dips down below 25 degress celsius I put away the sun cream and sunglasses :aus:

 

[leaguerefaus]

Not an issue living in Brisbane, but our society forbids compression garments from being seen. We're allowed to wear a black undershirt (the email didn't mention sleeve length, but i assume long sleeved would be frowned upon?) but unless global warming worsens fast and then quickly puts us into an ice age, I think I'll be right without it.

 

[Drift]

Down here in Melbourne we are allowed to wear whatever "skins" we want, be it short sleeve or long sleeve. Personally I only go for the short sleeved option, I run around a lot in a game so I quickly warm up.

 

[menace]

I'm sure that I've seen polarised views on this somewhere on the forum, but cannot now find the thread.

If you want a good light read, search "leggings".... but there's not much written on it!:sarc:

As for me...I'm in the cold so long sleeves come out when refing in the snowy mountains, otherwise short lengths.

 

[ckuxmann]

I wear long sleeves almost year round, as sun cream doesn't work great. When it gets cold around 40-45 I'll switch to a thermal undershirt as I'm too tiny to keep body heat during the game.

Cody

 

[Constantine]

I find skins don't do much to keep you warm in any case. I go for a long sleeved polypro and merino undies. And keep moving.

 

[SimonSmith]

Underarmor compression top.

That is all.

 

[Jarrod Burton]

I wear the longer-style skins shorts all the time, but rarely anything under the shirt. Maybe if its pouring down and freezing I might put an extra shirt on under and wear my wet-weather gear, but I sweat far too much for an extra shirt. I wore sunscreen more than an extra shirt this year. Come and ref in Tassie if you like brisk air temps coupled with an ever present risk of sunburn.

 

[Dickie E]

Only concession I have to cold weather is that when it dips down below 25 degress celsius I put away the sun cream and sunglasses :aus:

C'mon, mate. Don't tease the Pomanians. We all know it never gets below 25C in Oz.

I wear short length skins for my loins but more to prevent chafing.

 

[Dickie E]

merino undies.

doesn't the wool make you itch?

 

[Constantine]

Nope, Icebreaker superfine merino, barely feels like wool at all. Bloody expensive but sometimes I just want to not freeze my arse off.

 

[leaguerefaus]

Mormon underwear, anyone?

 

[sgoat]

I have a set of underarmour compression tops. Being a bit of a stickler for colours I will try to wear the one that matches the top. So with my London shirts, as the collar and piping/under the arms bits are navy then I will wear a navy one.

On some of my kit from Durham the collar and piping was white, so I had a white one. On other kit (Durham and RFU) the collar and piping etc were black, so I wore a black one.

I have worn long and short sleeved of all three colours, except Long sleeve white which I think makes you stand out too much.

I wore under shorts to play in, but have never refereed in them.

 

[crossref]

my undershorts are hidden by my shorts, I just don't like the look of undershorts being longer than the shorts.

On top it's similar: I have a couple of different base layers of different thicknesses, depending on weather, but both short sleeved as I don't like the short-sleeved jersey / long-sleeved under-shirt look.

However I do have one long-sleeved undershirt (black) that I have worn a few times on exceptionally cold days.

Save the extreme days I don't really get cold during the game, I run hot, but half time is different, I can cool down quickly, so I often have tracksuit top at side of pitch that I put on while I am standing around.

 

[TheBFG]

I can already hear the Hurumph from Hants!!!

At the end of the day you need to stay warm while reffin and everyone will be different in what they need to wear. I don't suffer too badly from the cold so usually get away with a short sleeved base layer (I assume the use of Skins is just a trade name, but bear in mind i don't believe they're deasigned to keep you warm , they're compression products?) That said if you do go for a long sleeved version then the only tip i would give is don't wear a black one if you're doing a night game, as it can be difficult to see your arm out for "advantage"

Oh and don't forget there are cool versions too for the warmer months :wink:

 

[The Fat]

Nope, Icebreaker superfine merino, barely feels like wool at all. Bloody expensive but sometimes I just want to not freeze my arse off.

You should move to Adelaide.

 

[oldman]

Can someone explain why referees use short sleeved shirts?

When I started we brought long sleeves and could wear another shirt underneath, why the change?

 

[Toby Warren]

I simply wear a vest under my shirt this is more to prevent jogger's nipple as the materials that they use create a huge amount of static.

 

[DrSTU]

I've only ever used these for cold weather:

http://www.lovell-rugby.co.uk/Rugby-Base-Layer/Canterbury/Base-Layer-Cold-LS-T-Shirt-Black

Great product and I can't remember ever feeling cold. Their heat wear is good too but Under Armour do some nice heat wear. Compression shorts, I've used these almost every weekend for the last 4 years and only now are they starting to show signs of needing replacing:

http://www.jockey.co.uk/Jockey-Jock...archPage=1&searchRank=salesrank&searchSize=12