The lion has stood for British strength and sovereignty since medieval heraldry first put it on a royal shield.

It's one of the oldest surviving symbols in European heraldry — older than the union flag, older than most of the institutions it now represents. Most people only encounter it today shrunk onto a badge or blown up across a shirt for ninety minutes a game. We wanted to give it back some weight.

The lion on this cap is fully embroidered, high density, done the way a crest would have been done originally — not a crest at all, actually, just a mark that means something to the people who recognise it.