Sock It To Me: Women's Soccer Match Delayed Over Socks That Were Too Similar

There were some serious sock problems across the pond last weekend which even managed to delay the start of a match between two of the biggest teams in England's Women's Super League, the top level of women's soccer in the country.

According to the Associated Press, Arsenal visited Chelsea for a match last Friday. Now, those are two big names in the soccer world. Even if you've never been able to will your way through a full 90 minutes plus stoppage time, you've at least heard of those clubs.

So, this is a pretty big deal.

However, just before kickoff, the referee spotted a problem: both teams showed up wearing white socks.

Now, if you're a casual-at-best soccer fan like I am. you might be thinking, "And what the hell is the problem with that? White socks are easily the most common color for socks to be." 

My thoughts exactly.

But if you think about it a little, it does make some sense. If the official wants to tell whose leg is doing what, it's going to be a little bit tougher if everyone is wearing white socks.

Tougher, but not impossible. 

Still, this whole thing about two teams wearing white socks was just not something this official was willing to live with.

Arsenal — probably assuming there'd be no chance something this stupid would ever happen — only showed up with one color of sock. So, they had to take a field trip over to the Chelsea store at Stamford Bridge — where the Premier League team plays — to pick up some black socks.

An Arsenal player warms up in black socks with tape over the Chelsea and Nike logos. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Yes: they had to go to the opponent's store and spend money there for new socks. I'm not saying there was some collusion to juice the Chelsea store's revenue, but I've got questions…

Once the socks were secured there was another problem: there were Chelsea and Nike logos on the black socks. Well, obviously the Chelsea logos were no bueno, but the swooshes were an issue too because Arsenal wears Adidas uniforms.

Fortunately, they got those socks taped up to cover the offending logos and the ladies hit the pitch just 30 minutes late.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, after all of that running around, they fell 3-1 to Chelsea — which leads the league at the moment.