At a recent event at Great Comp House & Gardens in Kent, we presented Sue Chandler (former Great Britain (GB) Captain with 25 appearances) with her GB honours cap alongside a group of ladies from Sevenoaks and Teddington hockey clubs who were re-enacting hockey as it was played in the early 1900s.
 |
 |
|
|
Left: Sue Chandler receives her Great Britain honours cap from The Hockey Museum Vice President Katie Dodd. |
||
We’ll reveal more on this re-enactment in due course, but it got us thinking: English hockey does not have a long-standing tradition of wearing caps or having any sort of headwear as part of its uniform (kit), for either men or women – as is the case in other sports. Neither has English hockey awarded honours caps to international players, though some caps exist in recognition of county or territorial representation.
The Evolution of Honours Caps | The Hockey Museum
Yet photographs and artwork exist from the late 1800s and early 1900s which indicate that it was not uncommon for women’s hockey teams to wear boaters, berets or other headwear as part of early hockey uniform.
 |
| The France international women’s team wearing berets at a tournament in Copenhagen in 1922. |
An engraving, published in 1894, after a painting by the artist Lucien Davis, would also suggest that it might have been common for ladies to actually play in their hats.
 |
| A Ladies’ Hockey Club at Play, c.1894; engraving after an artwork by Lucien Davis. |
Marjorie Pollard, in her book Fifty Years of Women’s Hockey, wrote that in 1896 “the distinguishing dress to be worn by the All England XI was agreed upon as follows: white canvas shirts and caps; the badge, the Rose of England, on the pocket of shirt and on the peak of cap; cardinal serge [woollen] shirt and band; white silk (long); sailor hat (for travelling?)”.
This lends itself to the interpretation that in 1896 a peaked cap was for playing in and a sailor hat was worn for travel between matches. This is supported by a photograph of the England women’s team of 1896 and a report of the match in The Queen’:
“Though the day was not particularly bright, the scene was very pretty, colour being lent to it by the costumes of the players.
The Irish ladies wore light green blouse, and skirts of a darker shade of the same colour. The visitors [England] were attired in white bodices and caps, and red skirts.”
The Queen’, 14 March 1896.
 |
| The England international women’s team which played Ireland in 1896. |
During the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) in 1895 it was proposed that “No player shall wear hat pins, or sailor or other hard-brimmed hat [during matches]”, but this was defeated and only passed several years later, possibly in 1898. Even back then player safety was obviously an issue and it appears that playing in hats of any description quickly disappeared.
Hockey Headwear: Its Contemporary Relevance
Fast forward 120 years and The Hockey Museum and GB Hockey are now presenting honours caps to all GB hockey players, past and present. These caps have a very traditional look and the heritage appeal of this design has struck a chord with the recipients.
“The GB honours cap is absolutely beautiful. I had no idea what it might look like, but it is beyond my wildest expectations.”
Val Robinson, writing in 2021.
While English hockey (and Great Britain international hockey) may not have had an illustrious hat-wearing tradition, there are hockey-playing nations and cultures where headwear is more common and deeply rooted: the Sikh turban and the Muslim hijab for example.
Recognising this, England Hockey this week announced revised regulations on playing kit for the 2022-2023 season. When published these will provide clarity on what kit can be worn during hockey matches including, for the first time, making explicit reference to head coverings for players such as turbans and hijabs. These regulations will ban the use of metal fastenings and pins to secure any headwear – a link back to those original 1890s AEWHA regulation banning hat pins!
