This England Cap dated 1872,74,75 to the front was awarded to Blackheath’s Thomas Batson on being picked to represent England in the second ever international rugby match played against Scotland at the Kennington Oval ‘London’ on 5th February 1872. This was England’s first ever home international match, with the 1871 fixture being played at Raeburn Place 'Edinburgh'
The 1872 England Team, consisting of 19 of the 20 players
At this period of time Rugby was a twenty a side game, it would be another five years before the number of players on the field was reduced to fifteen.
The scoring method was different to today, with England winning 2-1
Matches in this season were decided on goals scored. A goal was awarded for a successful conversion after a try, for a dropped goal or for a goal from mark. If a game was drawn, any unconverted tries were tallied to give a winner. If there was still no clear winner, the match was declared a draw.
The scorers on this day were:
England: 1 goal, 1 dropped goal, 2 tries
Tries – D’Aguilar (1), Finney (1), Hamersley (1)
Conversion – Isherwood (1)
Dropped Goal – Freeman (1)
Scotland: 1 dropped goal
Dropped Goal – Cathcart (1)
The outside of the Cap looks in remarkable condition given its age, the opposite can be said of the interior, but that wouldn’t detract any collectors or museums from wanting this in their collection.
Listed on eBay it sold on 16th February 2023:
It had been bid upto £1950 with 24hrs left to go, from that point no further bids were placed until the last 10 seconds, where 3 bidders came in and it eventually sold for £3905.
References:
eBay UK
Rugby Memorabilia Society
Peter Douglas-Davies
03/04/2023