International Caps - Recently Updated Pages

History

mikethebike — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:04:05 CDT

A 'cap' is the term given for an appearance for a select team in sports. It is in effect an award commemorating an achievement. Upon being selected to represent a school, college, university, club, district, county or country a special cap can be designed and made to commemorate the achievement.

These caps, often termed 'honours caps' are decorative awards and are usually made from plush velvet with metallic coloured braiding and tassel.

The front of the cap will usually bear the team logo, and the event embroidered on the peak. Almost every cap is different in some way as they are made to order, so obtaining one or being in possession of one is something to cherish forever.

The term 'international cap' dates from a practice started in the United Kingdom in 1886 when a cap was awarded to each player representing their country in association football. England began awarding red and navy blue velvet caps to players selected for international games, and the tradition extended to presentations being made Worldwide in other sports such as rugby union, rugby league, cricket, boxing, athletics, badminton, squash and hockey to name but a few.

In most cases players will get just one honours cap no matter how many international games they play, but the England Football Association literally and generously award players a cap each and every time they play for their country. Despite the apparent plethora of caps that must be available England football caps are still difficult to find and still attract a large premium!

In my eyes what makes an honours cap truly special is not only its unique and beautiful design, but the fact that it is so personal to the recipient. Priceless indeed. Players often exchange jerseys and kit, but rarely will they part with their caps...

Happy hunting!

Here are some useful sites which include some useful information about caps:

http://internationalcaps.webs.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_(sport)

http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/century.html#caps

Where to get caps?

mikethebike — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:01:57 CDT

There are several places to find honours caps, but most of the time they are sold at auction.

You can do a general search under 'sports memorabilia' or access one of the links advertised on this site, or search for sports memoralbilia auction houses.

If you want to order your own bespoke caps there are several manufacturers who make the caps. Whether or not they will go ahead and produce the cap for you is up to them, as clearly they will not produce copyrighted logos, infringe contracts, or produce replicas of actual international caps - so be prepared for disappointment!

For more information check out: http://internationalcaps.webs.com/

International Caps and Honours Caps

mikethebike — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:00:13 CDT

For many years I have been fascinated by the unique design and rarity of international cap and honours caps, and I found it surprising that despite the odd photo appearing on a website now and then there wasn't a site dedicated to international caps and honours caps.

I had seen England football caps and Wales rugby caps before but often wondered what Wales football caps looked like. Did Ireland award international caps? In football? Rugby? What do their international caps look like?

Did Scotland award honours caps? Australia? Japan even? I wonder what they are worth...

I began collecting photographs of honours caps from the web using the usual internet search engines but photos were few and far between. Consequently it has taken me several years to compile enough data to satisfy my curiosity about the different styles and designs of international caps.

More than that I wanted to know who made honours caps, how honours caps were made, and what honours caps are worth. In so doing I realised that others may be just as curious about international caps and honours caps, thus I decided to put what information I have onto an international caps and honours caps website and allow others to enjoy these beautiful creations and perhaps enable a potential collector get their hands on one.

I designed a website for sports fans and sports memorabilia collectors alike who are interested in caps. If you want to find out more check out the following site:

http://internationalcaps.webs.com/

For a sample of what caps look like simply go to the Photo Gallery section, click on the Albums tab for the country of your choice, and have a glimpse of some of the World's most unique awards.

If you wish to contribute to the site in any way by adding historical information, prices, photographs of your own caps, or to advertise international caps or honours caps for sale then please let me know.

I hope you enjoy it!

Mike.

NB: Several photographs on this site have been obtained from conducting general internet image searches. If you own the copyright to any of the images and you have any objections to their use please contact me immediately. Thank you.

Record Cap Holders

mikethebike — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:47:55 CDT

Top 20 Football Cap Holders:

Mohamed Al-Deayea (Saudi Arabia) 181 (1990-2006)
Claudio Suárez (Mexico) 178 (1992-2006)
Hossam Hassan (Egypt) 169 (1985-2006)
Cobi Jones (USA) 164 (1992-2004)
Adnan Kh. Al-Talyani (UAE) 164 (1984-1997)
Sami Al-Jaber (Saudi Arabia) 163 (1992-2006)
Martin Reim (Estonia) 156 (1992-2007)
Lothar Matthäus (West Germany) 150 (1980-2000)
Ali Daei (Iran) 149 (1993-2006)
Iván Hurtado (Ecuador) 147 (1992-2008)
Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi (Saudi Arabia) 143 (1990-2001)
Marko Kristal (Estonia) 143 (1992-2005)
Thomas Ravelli (Sweden) 143 (1981-1997)
Vitalijs Astafjevs (Latvia) 142 (1992-2008)
Cafu (Brazil) 142 (1990-2006)
Majed Abdullah (Saudi Arabia) 139 (1978-1994)
Ahmed Hassan (Egypt) 138 (1996-2008)
Pavel Pardo (Mexico) 138 (1996-2008)
Lilian Thuram (France) 138 (1994-2008)
Myung-Bo Hong (South Korea) 136 (1990-2002)

see http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/century.html#caps

Top 20 Rugby Union Cap Holders:

1	139	George Gregan	Australia	1994–2007	[1][2]
2	119	Jason Leonard	England (114) British and Irish Lions (5)	1990–2004	[3]
3	118	Fabien Pelous	France	1995–2007	[4]
4	111	Philippe Sella	France	1982–1995	[5]
5	103	Gareth Thomas	Wales (100) British and Irish Lions (3)	1995–	[6][7]
6	102	Stephen Larkham	Australia	1996–2007	[1][8]
7	101	David Campese	Australia	1982–1996	[9]
7	101	Alessandro Troncon	Italy	1994–2007	[1][10]
9	98	Raphaël Ibañez	France	1996–2007	[11]
10	96	Colin Charvis	Wales (94) British and Irish Lions (2)	1996–	[12]
11	94	Percy Montgomery	South Africa	1997–	[13]
12	93	Serge Blanco	France	1980–1991	[14]
13	92	Sean Fitzpatrick	New Zealand	1986–1997	[15]
13	92	Martin Johnson	England (84) British and Irish Lions (8)	1993–2003	[16][17]
13	92	Gareth Llewellyn	Wales	1989–2005	[18]
16	91	Neil Jenkins	Wales (87) British and Irish Lions (4)	1990–2003	[19]
16	91	Malcolm O'Kelly	Ireland	1997–	[20]
16	91	Rory Underwood	England (85) British and Irish Lions (6)	1984–1996	[21]
19	90	Olivier Magne	France	1997–	[22]

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rugby_union_Test_caps_leaders