Cap (sport)

The practice was first approved on 10 May 1886 for association football after a proposal made by N. Lane Jackson, founder of the Corinthians: 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.

[5][6] In Scotland, for many years the practice was to present caps only for appearances in the British Home Championship, meaning that several players never received one (including those in their 1958 FIFA World Cup squad); this anomaly was rectified retrospectively in the 2000s after pressure from players' families.

The first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of England's Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British & Irish Lions touring squad.

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).

[16] The record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player and captain Darren Lockyer with 59 matches.

Physical caps are not distributed by the International Netball Federation but the term is still widely used to signify appearances.

Irene van Dyk has won the most international caps having represented two nations after her switch to the Silver Ferns, a move that was allowed as the INF rules only prohibited players from representing two nations in one calendar year.

Mary Waya is the only other woman to have earned over 200 caps in her thirty-year career, with exact numbers being difficult to confirm.