Caps for Players

The Supporters Club cap initiative came about after one of our Committee members read about a scheme introduced by West Bromwich Albion, whereby they awarded caps to all players who had made their league debut for their club, their reasoning being that if you can win a cap for your country, then why shouldn’t you win a cap for your club.
An article about the scheme was written and appeared in The Pirate, the Bristol Rovers matchday magazine, with the express hope that the club might pick up on the idea and run with it given that there was scope for inviting former players back to home games, wine and dine them and present them with their cap on the pitch at half time.
They would have to earn their keep of course and, in return, they would become matchday ambassadors and meet and greet supporters in the hospitality areas.
It’s fair to say that the idea didn’t really catch on until the Supporters Club showed a great deal of enthusiasm for it and after lengthy discussions agreed to fund the cost of producing enough caps for all those who had represented the club in the league since 1920.
First of all, though, a great deal of research had to be undertaken in terms of determining how many players had actually played for the club and what numerical order they should be shown in. Thankfully there were some records in place (spreadsheets for each season courtesy of one Mike Jay) but they had to be checked for accuracy.
One or two players, we found, had been double counted; hardly surprising given that over 100 years’ worth of lineups had to be checked on more than one occasion! It took a while and several attempts, but we finally arrived at what we think is a definitive list of all players who have made at least one Football League appearance for Bristol Rovers.
The caps were ordered, bearing a number on the back (apart from the 259 pre war players whose caps are numbered as and when we are able to present them to relatives) and the Rovers badge on the front and supporters were invited to sponsor caps (£50 for members, £60 for non members) with the hope that caps could be presented at a home game, either to the players or to their relatives and that, as they say, remains a work in progress!

We have, to date, presented 114 caps, so there is still a long way to go! In addition to receiving their cap the player, or their relative, receives a certificate bearing the date of their debut and the name of the club’s opponents and the number they were in the order of players to turn out for The Gas. If sponsored, then the sponsor also receives a certificate.
Recent players to have received their caps are pictured here; Gary Mabbutt, who was the 453rd player to make his Rovers debut on 16th December 1978, Ian Holloway who was number 476 when making the first of his three debuts, 25th April 1981 (no, he didn’t get three caps!).
And then there was Graham Ricketts, who was number 330 on 9th February 1957. He was tracked down thanks to a letter from one of the care workers at the home where he now lives in Peterborough and presented with his cap at a party given for him, with his family in attendance.

It was, from the outset, decided that players should be listed in alphabetical order and so the first players to be listed were those selected for our first ever league game on 28th August 1920. Therefore, Harold Bell is down as number one, while David Steele is number 11.
We have kept that system in place to maintain consistency and think it works well for all concerned. Ryan Woods, who has yet to receive his cap, was the 1,000th player to represent Bristol Rovers when he played against Lincoln City last season, while Kofi Shaw, also yet to receive his cap, was number 1,006 when he appeared in last season’s final game, against Wigan Athletic.
Many caps have been presented at Dinners organised by the Bristol Rovers Former Players Association, others at events run by the Bristol Rovers History Group and we hope, that in future, many will be presented at the Memorial Stadium. For instance, Christian Edwards will be our guest this coming Saturday and will receive his cap during the half time interval.
Players have told us how much it means to them to be awarded a cap and many supporters have embraced the initiative. We would like to be able to award a lot more caps this season and it would be nice to think that 200 caps will have been presented come the end of this campaign.
With the help of the Football Club, the Former Players Association and the History Group, we don’t believe that’s an unrealistic target and hope that all of our members and, indeed, all Bristol Rovers Supporters, agree.