Referee (American football)

In American football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game.

During professional and most college football games, seven officials operate on the field. Beginning in 2015, Division I college football conferences are using eight game officials. College games outside the Division I level use six or seven officials. Arena football, high school football, and other levels of football have other officiating systems. High school football played under the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rules typically use five officials for varsity and 3, 4, or 5 for non-varsity games.

Football officials are commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as referees, but each position has specific duties and a specific name: referee, umpire, head linesman, line judge, back judge, side judge, center judge (in Division I college football) and field judge. Because the referee is responsible for the general supervision of the game, the position is sometimes referred to as head referee or crew chief.

American football officials generally use the following equipment:

For ease of recognition, officials are usually clad in a black-and-white vertically striped shirt. Traditionally officials wore white knickers; however, officials at almost all levels now wear black trousers with a white strip. Officials also wear a black belt, black shoes, and a peaked cap. A letter indicating the role of each official appears on the back of the shirt at some levels, while NFL officials have numbers with a small letter or letters above. Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, an American flag was added to the shirts of NFL officials.

The stripes were first introduced in the 1920s, before which plain white shirts were worn. College football referee Lloyd Olds is credited with the idea after a quarterback mistakenly handed the ball to him. The officials are colloquially called "zebras" due to their black-and-white striped shirts.

During the 1940s the NFL officials wore color-striped shirts that represented their positions; black and white for referees, red and white for umpires, orange and white for head linemen, and green and white for field judges. During most of the American Football League's existence (1960–1967), officials wore red-orange striped jerseys. The referees wore red hats, the others white, each with the AFL logo. This look was recreated in 2009 during AFL Legacy Weekends to mark the 50th anniversary of the AFL's founding.

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