Granting of International Football Caps

That the Parliament notes that from the commencement of international football matches in 1872 through to 1975 the Scottish Football Association (SFA) awarded one cap per season, but only if the player faced England, Northern Ireland or Wales; further notes that from 1975 the SFA added all competitive internationals to this policy; recognises that from 1986 the criteria were changed so that a cap with the match details embroidered on it has been issued for each competitive international and a single seasonal cap, with only the year of the season on it, is issued if a player takes the  field in a friendly match, even as a substitute; further recognises that the result of the original restrictive policy and its subsequent amendment is that some Scottish players who played in World Cup qualifying and finals matches of the 50s, 60s and 70s never received a cap because they did not play in the Home Internationals; notes that the 2005 William Hill Sports Book of the Year, My Father and Other Working Class Heroes by Gary Imlach, brought this injustice to light as it affected the author’s father who played two matches in the World Cup in Sweden in 1958 but received no cap; believes that there are now players who have played briefly in a friendly and who have a cap and players who have played 90 minutes in a World Cup final who do not, such as Eddie Turnbull, with eight appearances against teams such as France and Yugoslavia, with no caps and Derek Riordan, with one friendly appearance and one cap, and also Scotland’s most-capped player, Kenny Dalglish, with 102 appearances having less caps than Christian Dailly, with 60 appearances; further believes that the number of players or their descendants who would be entitled to a cap is 90 and that the estimated cost of providing a cap for each is £2,000 in total, and considers that, as a declaration of thanks to those Scottish International players without caps and as a gesture of goodwill and encouragement to the game of football in Scotland, the SFA should issue a single commemorative cap to each of those players who do not have a cap to cover all the games that they may have played for their  country.