Football: Wales' oldest cap record broken within a week

A cap from 1899 has been donated to Wrexham's Football Museum for Wales

You wait 116 years for Wales' oldest football cap, then two arrive at once.

Last week, a Wales international cap from 1905 was unearthed, having spent decades in Australia.

Now, one six years older has been donated to Wrexham's National Football Museum for Wales.

Dating back to 1899, it was given to the museum after publicity surrounding the first gift from the Brisbane family of Stoke City striker Walter Watkins.

Watkins' Wales international cap was thought to be the oldest in existence until Paul Swainson contacted the museum.

• 'Wrexham reminded me of Philadelphia'

• Wrexham's Hollywood owners must wait to see team after US match called off

• Ukraine fans in Wales cherish connections between the countries

Museum officer Nick Jones said: "Paul, the great-grandson of a former Wrexham player William Harrison came into the museum to donate us his Wales cap from 1899.

"We're not yet sure which match it was awarded for, but we can verify that it's genuine and does indeed date from 1899, as the peak of the cap bears the year in which it was issued.

"It's incredible, I never thought we'd top Walter's cap, but to have one six years older donated to us just a week later is unbelievable."

A cap dating back to Wales' 3-1 win over Scotland in 1905 was thought to be the oldest

Harrison's cap is similar to Watkins', but has black stitching rather than the gold braiding that later became common.

Mr Jones previously said it was believed the 1905 cap was "possibly the earliest surviving cap any of us know of".

After football, Harrison became landlord of The Turf pub, a stone's throw from Wrexham's ground.

Walter Watkins played for Stoke City, Aston Villa and Sunderland

Mr Jones hopes to learn about Mr Harrison's life from museum records, football historians and researchers.

"Paul told us there are a lot of family legends about his life and career, but they're not sure which are true and which are a little bit apocryphal," he said.

"It's going to be tremendous fun sifting through our files and piecing the stories together with the facts we know of.

"All items in our collection are far more than just the objects themselves, they are the means of bringing to life the fascinating careers and backgrounds of the people who owned them."

The new cap is the latest addition to a collection which now boasts over 2,000 exhibits since it opened at the turn of the century.