Cap (sport)

Sports cap awarded to a Perth Academy schoolboy in the UK in the 1930s

In sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football. In the early days of football, the concept of each team wearing a set of matching shirts had not been universally adopted, so each side would distinguish itself from the other by wearing a specific sort of cap.

An early illustration of the first international football match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. The practice was first approved on 10 May 1886 for association football after a proposal made by N. Lane Jackson, founder of the Corinthians: ^[1]

That all players taking part for England in future international matches be presented with a white silk cap with red rose embroidered on the front. These to be termed International Caps.

The act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Although in some sports physical caps may not now always be given (whether at all or for each appearance) the term "cap" for an international or other appearance has been retained as an indicator of the number of occasions on which a sportsperson has represented a team in a particular sport. Thus, a "cap" is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, for the team, is said to have been capped x times or have won x caps.

The practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a player's debut or, particularly for national teams, a commemorative cap may be awarded after a player reaches the 100th cap.^[2]^[3]

Association football

As an example, the England men's association football teams still awards physical caps. Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a single cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. For example, when David Beckham made his one hundredth appearance for England, because a number of his appearances had been at World Cup and European Championship final tournaments for which he received only one cap, he received only his 85th physical cap.^[4]

The world record holder for the highest number of international caps as of 5 November 2010 is retired American player Kristine Lilly, who has 354 caps (between 1987 and 2010). In men's association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt; he surpassed Claudio Suárez with his 178th cap on 27 March 2012. The first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of England's Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England, 90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain.

FIFA rules state that any club that refuses to release a player for national team duty is barred from using the player for two matches, a rule which is intended to discourage clubs from pretending that the player is injured. However, it is a player's choice to refuse to play for or retire from his or her national team.

Records

Some current leading holders of association football caps (as of 11 June 2017) are:

Men

184 – Ahmed Hassan, Egypt
178 – Hossam Hassan, Egypt
178 – Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabia
177 – Claudio Suárez, Mexico 178 in Mexican records
169 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italy
168 – Iván Hurtado, Ecuador
167 – Iker Casillas, Spain
166 – Vitālijs Astafjevs, Latvia
164 – Cobi Jones, United States
163 – Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi, Saudi Arabia
161 – Adnan Al-Talyani, United Arab Emirates
158 – Bader Al-Mutawa, Kuwait
157 – Landon Donovan, United States
157 – Martin Reim, Estonia

Women

354 – Kristine Lilly, United States World record holder
311 – Christie Rampone, United States
275 – Mia Hamm, United States
272 – Julie Foudy, United States
259 - Christine Sinclair, Canada
256 – Abby Wambach, United States
239 – Joy Fawcett, United States
231 – Heather O'Reilly, United States
214 – Birgit Prinz, Germany
214 – Therese Sjögran, Sweden

Bold denotes players currently active in international football.

Cricket

In cricket, there are two types of caps. Firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a "county cap". The latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance; instead, they have to be "earned" through good performances. Indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap.

Records

The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by Sachin Tendulkar of India, who has, over the course of a 22-year career, collected 200. Tendulkar also holds the record for One Day Internationals, with 463 caps.

Rugby Union

In rugby union, 35 players have reached 100 international caps as of 5 June 2012. Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded. The Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps (Fijian Nicky Little is closest with 71 caps).

Players still active at Test level are in bold type.

Richie McCaw, New Zealand — 148 [2001 to 2015]
Brian O'Driscoll, Ireland — 141 [133 for Ireland (1999 to 2014), 8 for the British and Irish Lions (2001, 2005, 2009, 2013)]
George Gregan, Australia — 139 [1994 to 2007]
Gethin Jenkins, Wales, 131 — [2002-2016,5 for the British and Irish Lions (2005, 2009, 2013)]
Ronan O'Gara, Ireland — 130 [128 for Ireland (2000 to 2013), 2 for the British and Irish Lions (2001, 2005, 2009)]
Keven Mealamu, New Zealand — 125 [2002 to 2015]
Victor Matfield, South Africa – 122 [2001 to 2011, 2014 to 2015]
Jason Leonard, England — 119 [114 for England (1990 to 2004), 5 for the British and Irish Lions (1993, 1997, 2001)]
Fabien Pelous, France — 118 [1995 to 2007]
Stephen Moore, Australia — 117 [2005 to - ]
Nathan Sharpe, Australia — 116 [2002 to 2012]
Paul O'Connell, Ireland 115 — [108 for Ireland (2002 to 2015), 7 for the British and Irish Lions (2005, 2009, 2013)]
Tony Woodcock, New Zealand - 114 [2002 to 2015]
Sergio Parisse, Italy — 112 [2002 to 2015]
Marco Bortolami, Italy — 111 [2001 to 2015]
George Smith, Australia — 111 [2000 to 2009, 2013]
Philippe Sella, France — 111 [1982 to 1995]
John Smit, South Africa — 111 [2000 to 2011]
Stephen Jones, Wales – 110 [104 for Wales (1998 to 2011), 6 for the British and Irish Lions (2005, 2009)]
Ross Ford, Scotland — 110 [2004 to 2017]
Bryan Habana, South Africa, 109 — [2002 to 2015]
Chris Paterson, Scotland — 109 [1999 to 2011]
Adam Ashley-Cooper, Australia — 107 [2005 to 2015]
Jean de Villiers, South Africa — 107 [2002 to 2015]
John Hayes, Ireland — 107 [105 for Ireland (2000 to 2011), 2 for the British and Irish Lions (2005, 2009)]
Daniel Carter, New Zealand — 105 [2003 to 2015]
Martyn Williams, Wales — 104 [100 for Wales (1996 to 2012), 4 for the British and Irish Lions (2001, 2005)]
Andrea Lo Cicero, Italy — 103 [2000 to 2013]
Gareth Thomas, Wales — 103 [100 for Wales (1995 to 2007), 3 for the British and Irish Lions (2005)]
Mauro Bergamasco, Italy — 102 [1998 to 2015]
Stephen Larkham, Australia — 102 [1996 to 2007]
Percy Montgomery, South Africa — 102 [1997 to 2008]
David Campese, Australia — 101 [1982 to 1996]
Alessandro Troncon, Italy — 101 [1994 to 2007]
Adam Jones, Wales — 100 [95 for Wales (2002 to 2014), 5 for the British and Irish Lions (2009,2013)]
Mils Muliaina, New Zealand — 100 [2003 to 2011]
Vasco Uva, Portugal — 100 [2003 to 2015]
Ma'a Nonu, New Zealand — 100 [2003 to 2015]
Sean Lamont, Scotland - 100 [2004 to 2015]

Rugby League

In rugby league, only three players have achieved 50 Test match caps. The record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 games. Former New Zealand Kiwis player & captain Ruben Wiki has 55 caps, and the current Australian Kangaroos player & captain Cameron Smith has 50 caps.

Players still active at Test level are in bold type.