There’s probably a rule or something that says the entire kit has to be different. And if you’re in a scrum with your head down looking at the ball, you’re not looking at the other players jersey colour so different socks is how you tell team mates apart.
Scrum?.. soccer?.. Man, times have changed.
Why can’t they play with matching socks?
To be fair, the referee is officiating a professional sport where you really need to be able to clearly distinguish between the legs of two people lunging quickly for the same ball with their feet.
Probably sounds silly, but when that’s what 95% of the sport revolves around, you can understand them being picky on a detail like this.
The Football Association’s (FA) rules state teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other.