Brad and Charlie Hart are Spurs season ticket holders. Father and son usually sit near the tunnel at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and 10-year-old Charlie rushes over after every game to get the attention of players leaving the pitch.
But earlier this month, after Tottenham beat West Ham United 4-1, Charlie realized he had forgotten his trusty marker pen to make the much-needed autograph. Little did he know that he would leave the stadium that Saturday afternoon not with ink squiggles on his shirt or program, but with a true collector's item.
During the match, Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario wore a baseball cap to keep the lunchtime sun out of his eyes, but nostalgic soccer purists are quick to mark the moment as a reference to his once-famous goalkeeper kit. It was celebrated as a welcome comeback. “It's got an old-school feel,” one fan said on social media.
At the time, “Keepers wore caps or jogging pants, prioritized comfort over fashion, and dressed more appropriately for washing cars or walking the dog on a Sunday morning than for playing in the world's premier domestic soccer league.'' “It looked like he was doing something.” In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was common for goalkeepers to wear caps – Germany and Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn come to mind – but now it's an even rarer sight. Long gone are the days of flat-capped goalkeepers like the great Lev Yashin.
“Vicario came out with a goalkeeping coach (Rob Birch) with a cap,” says Charlie, who is from Harpenden, a commuter town north of London. Athletic. “He (Birch) just looked me in the eye and said 'catch' and threw his cap. I caught it with one hand because my dad's cell phone was in the other hand, but I caught it. I would have gladly dropped my father's cell phone to secure it.”
Unlike his father, who remembers goalies wearing caps as a more familiar sight, this was the first time Charlie had seen him “wearing a goalie during a game” outside of a YouTube video.
In recent years, the England national team has Dean Henderson and Jordan Pickford have also worn caps for their clubs Crystal Palace and Everton, but they are in the minority.
So why did goalkeepers wearing hats become so rare?
The International Football Association Board (IFAB)'s rules for the 2024-25 season state that, in addition to goalkeeper caps, “sports glasses” and jersey bottoms are also permitted. There are also specific rules for player head coverings, such as they must be black or the same main color as the shirt, but the same instructions do not apply to baseball-style caps worn by goalies. If the rules haven't changed, what has?
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland became synonymous with donning the cap during his professional career that began in the late 1990s. The 43-year-old says he still remembers it when people meet him.
Kirkland, who won one cap for England, wore the cap in training as a youngster in Coventry City's academy after seeing first-team first-choice goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic using it. I started wearing it. Kirkland found that it not only helps protect her eyes from the sun's glare, but also helps her focus.
“I don't like the sun, so I always wore a goalie in training,” says Kirkland, who joined Liverpool in 2001 aged 20 on a deal that made him England's most expensive goalkeeper. Athletic.
“I used to wear a hat to keep the sun off my face because it would burn me. But I got used to it and my vision improved. Whereas before it was blocking out other things. , I found that I was able to focus better because I blocked out distractions.I sometimes wore it even when it wasn't sunny, but I did get some weird looks.
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Chris Kirkland: “I was taking 2,500mg of tramadol a day, which I kept in my goalkeeper bag on the pitch.”
“I found it useful because the hat blocks the sun at certain angles. Zookeepers don't wear it anymore because they look[into the sun].” I was surprised. They raise their arms or cover their eyes with their hands, which is clearly a distraction in itself. ”
Many times, the fans helped the goalkeeper who was squinting. In 2017, when Leeds United goalkeeper Felix Wietwald was suffering from the sun during an away game to Barnsley, supporters from the away side turned up and heroically surrendered his cap. A year later, a West Ham fan threw it onto the pitch for England No. 1 Joe Hart to wear in the FA Cup third round match against Shrewsbury Town.
“I've been using the same cap for years,” Kirkland added. “It was a navy blue Nike one, but I wore it so much that the Nike tick eventually fell off. The first game went well and I persisted. Another. The only time I wear it is when I take it out of my kit bag and wash it.It ended up rotting, but I kept it for years until the lady got rid of it and she said, “It's definitely a honk.'' It’s ringing, so I have to go!”
Richard Lee is a former Watford and Brentford goalkeeper who is best known for his cap, but not because he wore one.
“I've been on Dragon's Den (a British business-based game show) a long time ago and it was a job for a cap company, so I'm a bit more connected to caps, but I've never worn a cap in a match. '' said Lee, now a football agent with a long list of goalkeeper clients. Athletic.
“It's good to wear a hat when the sun is out of your eyes, but the moment a cross comes in or the ball is played over the top and you suddenly feel glare, you have to look up. So I think it's better to have the sun there all the time and know where it is.”
Another reason why goalkeepers don't wear caps could be due to style. It may just be a fashion choice.
“When you look at goalkeepers now, you notice they have a certain brand and look, and that certainly plays a role,” Lee added. “When you go out there (on the pitch), you have certain emotions and you want to express yourself in a certain way, whether it's for the fans, for the scouts or for your teammates.”
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An elite goaltender's choice not to wear a cap has implications for the next generation. “Young players will imitate what the current Premier League goalkeepers are doing,” Lee says. “Even in younger age groups, this condition is becoming less and less common.”
Former Everton and England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis has found a “better option” than hanging up the cap towards the end of her career.
“At one time, Nike made soft contact lenses that looked like sunglasses. They were bright orange and looked a little 'Halloween' when you put them in,” says Brown-Finis. Athletic. “They were the most effective thing ever. I hated wearing a cap because when the ball was on the ground, it was fine to wear a cap. But as soon as the ball was up in the air, , you have to tilt your angle and your view, and you're looking at the sun.”
Brown-Finnis said sunlight was a problem for goalies and that afternoon games made the pregame coin toss more important. She said goalkeepers will want their opponents facing the sun in the first half so that the intensity of the sunlight will be less in the second half.
“It's clear that not being exposed to sunlight in the first half is seen as an advantage for the team, which affects the goalkeeper and the players. It's interesting that there is no standard intervention for that.” she said.
Derby County's Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, who plays in the Second Division Championship, is one of the few goalkeepers to wear headgear throughout the English professional game. Swedish national team players wear caps to protect the scrum The Athletic's goaltending analyst Matt Pyzdrowski knows better.
Pyzdlovskiy, who played the last seven years of his career in Sweden and still lives as head of the academy at his former club Angelholmes, wears a protective head guard similar to the one popularized by former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. was. The athlete wore a rugby-style cap in January 2007, three months after suffering a skull fracture in a collision with Reading's Stephen Hunt.
“I had too many concussions in a short period of time,” Pyzdorowsky said. “I remember a specialist who met me saying to me: “Matt, you have to be careful, because you don't know how much this is going to affect you.” If you want to have a good life in the future, you need to 1) play and 2) protect yourself. You need to start thinking about the risks and rewards. ”
“When I put it into perspective, I thought, ‘I have to wear a helmet.’ For the rest of my career, I wore a rugby helmet. Every training session, every match, it was me It has become part of the outfit.
“It took me a while to get used to heading the ball and to learn how to control the ball, but the big benefit was that it gave me a sense of security. Coming back from a head injury, Even if you were an aggressive goalkeeper before, you become timid. It took a while for me to feel safe again, even with the helmet on.”
Pyzdlovski said protective headgear is becoming more popular in Sweden, with several top goalkeepers wearing it. “As a goalkeeper, you are very vulnerable. You have to be courageous and put yourself in very difficult and dangerous situations. If you think about that and the goalkeeper's safety, that should be your top priority. ” he says.
As for Charlie, after taking Vicario's cap to school to show it to his classmates, he hopes to have it signed by the player himself at an upcoming Tottenham home game. It will then be displayed in a showcase, reminding us of a special family day that evoked nostalgic feelings in the football world.
(Top photo: Getty Images, Design: Eamonn Dalton)