Brad Hart and Charlie Hart are Spurs season ticket holders. Father and son always sat near the tunnel at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and after every game, 10-year-old Charlie would rush over to the players as they walked off the pitch to try to get their attention.
But after Tottenham Hotspur beat West Ham United 4-1 earlier this month, Charlie realized he had forgotten his trusty marker because he was so desperate to get those autographs. Little did he know that he would leave the stadium that Saturday afternoon not with a few strips of ink on his shirt or a program note, but with a true collectible.
Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario donned a baseball cap to shield himself from the lunchtime sun during the game, with nostalgic football purists celebrating the occasion as a once-eye-catching goalkeeper jersey return. “Old school vibe,” one fan said on social media.
Those are the days: a goalkeeper in a hat or joggers who puts comfort before fashion and looks more suited to washing the car or taking the dog for a Sunday morning walk than playing football in one of the world’s top domestic football leagues. While it was common in the 1990s and early 2000s to see goalkeepers wearing hats – Germany and Bayern Munich’s Oliver Kahn first came to mind – the sight is much more unusual now. Gone are the days of goalkeepers wearing flat caps like the great Lev Yashin.
“Vicario came out with the goalkeeper coach (Rob Birch) and he was holding his hat,” Charlie, from Harpenden, a commuter town north of London, told us Athletic team. “He (Birch) just looked me in the eye and said, ‘Catch,’ and he threw the hat away. I caught it with one hand because my dad’s phone was in the other hand, even though I would gladly put down my dad’s phone to make sure I caught it.
Guglielmo Vicario brought back memories for fans when he donned his hat-trick against West Ham United (Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)
Unlike his father, Charlie first saw “goalkeepers wearing hats during games” outside of YouTube videos.
In recent years, the England international Dean Henderson and Jordan Pickford have both picked up hats for their respective clubs Crystal Palace and Everton, but they are just a handful.
So why have goalies wearing hats become so rare?
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules for the 2024-25 season stipulate that goalkeepers are allowed to wear hats, as well as “sports glasses” and track pants. There are also specific rules regarding player headgear, including that the headgear must be black or the same primary color as the jersey, but the same directive does not apply to baseball caps worn by goalies. If the rules haven’t changed, what has?
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland became synonymous with hat-wearing during a career that began in the late 1990s. When people meet him now, the 43-year-old says that’s still what he’s remembered for.
Kirkland has played once for England, starting as a youngster at Coventry City’s academy after seeing senior first-choice goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic take on a hat-trick Wear a hat during training. Kirkland finds it helps improve concentration levels and prevents the sun from glaring into his eyes.
Lev Yashin wearing a flat cap while playing for the Soviet Union against England during the 1958 World Cup (Pressens Bild/AFP)
“I always wear a jersey in training because I don’t feel comfortable in the sun,” said Kirkland, who joined Liverpool as a 20-year-old in 2001 in a deal that made him Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper. Athletic team.
“I would get burns, so I used to wear a hat to block the sun. But I got used to it and it helped me get better vision. It used to exclude other things and I found I was able to concentrate better because it excluded Interference. I wear it sometimes even when the sun isn’t shining and it makes me look weird.
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“The hats can block the sun at an angle, which I’ve found helpful in the past. I’m surprised keepers don’t wear them anymore because you see them (when facing the sun).” They raised their arms and covered their eyes with their hands, an obvious distraction.
Fans came to the rescue of the squinting goalkeeper on several occasions. In 2017, when Leeds United goalkeeper Felix Wiedewald played away to Barnsley, a fan rushed from the away side and heroically gave up his hat. A year later, a West Ham United fan threw a shirt onto the pitch for England number one Joe Hart to wear during their FA Cup third round tie against Shrewsbury Town.
Kirkland has played for Coventry City, Liverpool and Wigan Athletic (David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)
“I’ve been wearing the same hat for years,” Kirkland added. “It was a navy blue Nike shoe and the Nike tick eventually fell off because I wore it too much. I did well in the first game and held on. The only thing I would wear another one By the time I took it out of the gear bag and washed it it was rotten by the end, but I kept it for years until Mrs. asked me to get rid of it and she said, ‘It’s definitely honking,’ Must go!
Richard Lee, the former Watford and Brentford goalkeeper, is famous for his hats, but not because he ever wore them.
“I had more of a connection with hats because I had been on Dragons’ Den before, which was a hat company show, but I had never worn a hat in a competition,” Lee says now A football agent with a long list of goalkeeper clients tells us Athletic team.
“Wearing a hat is great when the sun doesn’t hit your eyes, but when a cross comes in or the ball is kicked over your head, you suddenly feel a glare and you look up and the sun hits you. On you. So, I would almost prefer to have sunshine all the time and you know where it is.
Style may be another reason why a goalkeeper chooses not to wear a hat. It might just be a fashion choice.
“You look at goalkeepers now and they realize they have a certain brand and look and that really makes a difference,” Lee added. “When you go out (on the field), you want to feel a certain way and present yourself a certain way, whether it’s to the fans, scouts or your teammates.”
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Elite goaltenders choosing not to wear caps also impacts the next generation. “Young players will follow what the current Premier League goalkeepers do,” Lee said. “It’s also becoming less and less common among younger people.”
Towards the end of her career, former Everton and England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis has found “a better option” in the hat-trick.
“For a while, Nike made soft contact lenses that were similar to sunglasses. They were bright orange and when you put them in, they looked a little ‘Halloween,'” Brown-Finnis said Athletic team. “They’re by far the most effective thing. I hate wearing hats because if the ball is on the ground, the hat is fine, but once the ball is in the air you have to tilt your angle and your field of view – you’re looking at the sun.
Brown-Finness said the sun was a problem for goalkeepers and added to the importance of the coin toss before the afternoon game. She said goalkeepers want the opponent to face the sun in the first half and hope that the intensity of the sun’s rays diminishes in the second half.
“Obviously not having sun in the first half is seen as an advantage for the team and it does affect goalkeepers and players. Interestingly, there is no standard intervention for this,” she said.
League Two champion Jacob Widell Zetterstrom from Derby County is one of the few goalkeepers to wear a helmet in the professional game in England. The Sweden international is wearing a protective scrum hat or something. CompetitorFamiliar goalie analyst Matt Pyzdrowski.
Derby County’s Zetterstrom during a match in August (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Pizdrovski spent the last seven years of his career playing in Sweden, where he still resides as head of the academy at his former club Angel Homes. , the sport donned a rugby-style hat three months after a collision with Reading’s Stephen Hunter resulted in a fractured skull.
“That’s a lot of concussions in a short period of time,” Pizdrowski said. “I remember the experts I met told me, ‘Matt, you have to be careful because we don’t know how much this will affect you. If you want to live a good life in the future, you need to start thinking about the risks and rewards of 1) playing and 2) protecting yourself.
“When you think about it, I thought, ‘I have to wear a helmet.’ I wore a football helmet for the rest of my career. Every practice, every game, it became part of my outfit.
“It took me some time to get used to heading the ball and learn how to control it, but the biggest benefit is that it makes me feel safe. When you come back from a head injury, you become timid, even if you were a former An aggressive goalkeeper. Even with my helmet on, it took me a while to feel safe again.
Charlie Hart received a memorable memento during Spurs’ home game against West Ham United this month (Brad Hart)
Pizdrowski said protective helmets are becoming increasingly popular in Sweden, with some of the top goalkeepers wearing them. “As a goalkeeper, you are very vulnerable. You have to be brave and put yourself in very difficult and unsafe situations. When I think about this issue and the safety of goalkeepers, it really should be a priority,” he said.
As for Charlie, after taking Vicario’s hat to school to show off to classmates, he hopes to get it signed by the player himself at one of Tottenham’s upcoming home games. It will then be placed in a display case – a reminder of this special family day that sparks nostalgia in the football world.
(Top: Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton)
