A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
, to describe
H. H. Stephenson taking three
wickets
In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings:
* It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out.
* ...
with three consecutive
deliveries. Fans held a collection for Stephenson, and presented him with a hat bought with the proceeds. The term was used in print for the first time in 1865 in the
''Chelmsford Chronicle''. The term was eventually adopted by many other sports including
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
,
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
Formula 1 racing, rugby, and
water polo
Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
.
Use
Association football
A hat-trick occurs in
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
when a player scores three
goals
A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve.
Goal may also refer to:
Sport
* Goal (sports), a method of scoring in many sports, or the physical structure or area where scoring occurs
** Goals, the goal frame in ...
(not necessarily consecutive) in a single game; whereas scoring two goals (in a single match) is called a brace. In common with other official record-keeping rules, all goals scored during the regulation 90 minutes, plus extra time if required, are counted but goals in a
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
are excluded from the tally. The fastest recorded time to score a hat-trick is 70 seconds, a record set by Alex Torr in a
Sunday league game in 2013. The previous record of 90 seconds was held by
Tommy Ross playing for
Ross County against
Nairn County on 28 November 1964. The record of the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick was set by
Ntinos Pontikas
Ntinos Pontikas ( el, Ντίνος Ποντίκας; born 27 February 1982) is a Greek former footballer who played as a striker. He holds the record for the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick.
Record
On 21 September 1996, Pontikas be ...
in 1996, while
Pelé in 1958 became the youngest to achieve a treble in the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
.
The first hat-trick achieved in an international game was by Scottish player
John McDougall, against
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on 2 March 1878.
American player
Bert Patenaude
Bertrand "Bert" Arthur Patenaude (; November 4, 1909November 4, 1974) was an American soccer player who played as a forward. Although it was formerly disputed, he is now officially credited by FIFA as scorer of the first hat-trick in the World ...
scored the first hat-trick in the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, against
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
in the
inaugural event in 1930. Three hat-tricks have been scored in a
World Cup final: by
Geoff Hurst
Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley S ...
for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in the
1966 final against
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, by
Kylian Mbappé for France in the
2022 final against Argentina, and by
Carli Lloyd for the
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
against
Japan in the
2015 Women's World Cup final. Lloyd's was, at 16 minutes, the fastest from kickoff in any World Cup match. However, the fastest World Cup hat-trick, as measured by time between goals, belongs to
Fabienne Humm
Fabienne Valérie Humm (born 20 December 1986) is a Swiss football forward, playing for FC Zürich of Switzerland's Nationalliga A. Since her debut in May 2012, a 1–0 win over Ireland, she has been a member of the Switzerland national team.
...
of
Switzerland, who scored in the 47th, 49th and 52nd minutes against
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
in the 2015 group stage.
Traditionally, a player who scores a hat-trick is allowed to keep the match ball as a memento.
Perfect hat-trick
Football has also extended the term, with a perfect hat-trick being when a player scores one right-footed goal, one left-footed goal and one headed goal within one match. In Germany and Austria, the term ''(german: lupenreiner) Hattrick'' (''flawless hat-trick'') refers to when a player scores three goals in a row in one half without the half-time break or a goal scored by another player interrupting the performance.
Baseball
In the past, the term was occasionally used to describe when a player
struck out
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...
three times in a baseball game, and the term ''
golden sombrero
In baseball, a golden sombrero is a player's inglorious feat of striking out four times in a single game.
Etymology
The term derives from ''hat trick'', and since four is bigger than three, the rationale was that a four-strikeout performance s ...
'' was more commonly used when a player struck out four times in a game.
In recent years, hat trick has been more often used to describe when a player hits three
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s in a game.
For example, on 29 August 2015,
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
fans celebrated
Edwin Encarnación
Edwin Elpidio Encarnación (born January 7, 1983) is a Dominican former professional baseball designated hitter, third baseman and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland ...
's third home run of the game by throwing hats onto the field, similar to the tradition in ice hockey.
Cricket
A hat-trick occurs in cricket when a bowler
takes three wickets with consecutive
deliveries.
Gaelic football
In
Gaelic football, a hat-trick can refer to
goals ''or'' to points scored.
Eoin Liston
Eoin "Bomber" Liston (born 16 October 1957 in Ballybunion, County Kerry) is an Irish former sportsperson. He played Gaelic football with his local club Beale, his divisional side Shannon Rangers and at senior level for the Kerry county team ...
scored a second-half hat-trick in the
1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
The 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 91st All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.
Dublin ...
.
Michael Quinlivan
Michael Quinlivan (born 15 February 1993) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays at inter-county level for Tipperary, and plays his club football for Clonmel Commercials in South Tipperary.
Early life
Quinlivan's father, Martin, played for ...
scored a second-half hat-trick against Armagh in the final game of the
2017 National Football League to secure
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
to Division 2 for Tipperary.
Jack McCaffrey
Jack McCaffrey (born 19 October 1993) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for Clontarf.
Early and personal life
His father Noel also represented Dublin in football. McCaffrey attended Belvedere College private school and studied medicine at Univ ...
's total of 1–3 in the
2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final (drawn game) involved a "classic hat-trick" of points, sent over the bar with fist and both feet.
Cillian O'Connor
Cillian O'Connor (born 1992) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Ballintubber and the Mayo county team. O'Connor is the leading all-time top scorer in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
Career
O'Connor made his Ballintub ...
's four goals (accompanied by nine points) in the
2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
The 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 133rd edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament since its establishment in 1887.
The public health measures introduced to combat the CO ...
semi-final at
Croke Park broke the 5–3 record set by
Johnny Joyce of Dublin in 1960 and matched with 3–9 by
Rory Gallagher
William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...
of Fermanagh in 2002 for the highest individual scorer in any championship football match.
David Clifford
David Clifford (Irish: ''Daithí Ó Clúmháin'') (born 22 January 1999) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays as a corner-forward or full-forward at club level for Fossa and East Kerry and for the Kerry county team. He is regarded as one ...
scored a hat-trick against Galway in the opening round of the
2021 National Football League.
Handball
In
handball, if a player scores three times in a game, a hat-trick is made.
Hockey
![Ovechkin hat-trick (February 7, 2010)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Ovechkin_hat-trick_%28February_7%2C_2010%29.jpg)
In
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
and
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
, a hat trick occurs when a player scores three goals in a single game. A hat trick in ice hockey, as it is known in its current form, culminates with fans throwing hats onto the ice from the stands. The tradition is said to have begun among fans in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
around the 1950s,
with several conflicting legends from the Canadian cities of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, and
Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
of various hatmakers offering a free hat to players who scored a hat trick.
In 1944 the ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (29 November 1944, p. 14) reported that "hockey's traditional ‘hat-trick’ – the feat of scoring three goals in a single game – will receive official recognition from the Amateur Hockey Association" of the US by awarding a small silver derby hat to players to mark the accomplishment.
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...
holds the NHL record for the most hat tricks in a career with 50.
Harry Hyland
Harold Macarius Hyland (January 2, 1889 – August 8, 1969) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Wanderers, New Westminster Royals, and Ottawa Senators. He was a star in the early years of professional hocke ...
scored the league's first hat trick, in the league's first game on 18 December 1917, in which Hyland's
Montreal Wanderers
The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...
defeated the
Toronto Arenas
The Toronto Arenas or Torontos were a professional men's ice hockey team that played in the first two seasons of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was operated by the owner of the Arena Gardens, the Toronto Arena Company. As the ownership of ...
10–9.
Variations
In ice hockey a ''natural hat trick'' occurs when a player scores three consecutive goals, uninterrupted by any other player scoring for either team. The NHL record for the fastest natural hat trick is 21 seconds, set by
Bill Mosienko in 1952 for the Chicago Blackhawks.
A
Gordie Howe hat trick
A Gordie Howe hat trick is a variation on ice hockey's hat-trick. It is accomplished when a player collects a goal, an assist, and a fight in the same game. It is named after Hall of Famer Gordie Howe.
The term was coined by a 1950s New York s ...
is a
tongue-in-cheek
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
History
The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scot ...
play on the feat. It is achieved by scoring a goal, getting an assist, and getting into a fight, all in the same game. Namesake
Gordie Howe
Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...
himself only recorded two in his NHL career.
Rick Tocchet
Richard Tocchet (; born April 9, 1964) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. Playing as a right winger, he played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angel ...
accomplished the feat 18 times in his career, the most in NHL history.
In October 1995,
Florida Panthers captain
Scott Mellanby
Scott Edgar Mellanby (born June 11, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach, and executive. He primarily played right wing throughout his NHL career, on occasion shifting over to the left side. He is the son of former ''H ...
scored a
rat trick The rat trick was a celebration performed by fans of the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL) during their 1995–96 season, in which plastic rats were thrown onto the ice to celebrate goals. The term, a play on hat trick, was coi ...
, the term coined by teammate
John Vanbiesbrouck. Prior to the game, Mellanby killed a
rat in the Panthers' locker room with his
hockey stick
A hockey stick is a piece of sports equipment used by the players in all the forms of hockey to move the ball or puck (as appropriate to the type of hockey) either to push, pull, hit, strike, flick, steer, launch or stop the ball/ puck during pla ...
, and proceeded to score a pair of goals later that night.
When Mellanby scored a hat trick in a later game, some Florida fans threw plastic rats onto the ice, a tradition that continued for all Panthers' goals throughout the
1996 playoffs. Due to the resulting game delays caused by the necessary clean-up of the plastic rats, the league eventually banned the activity and modified Rule 63 to impose a
minor penalty
A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Penalti ...
against the home team for a violation. The more traditional practice of fans throwing hats onto the ice following genuine hat tricks remains exempt from this penalty.
Lacrosse
In
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
, like other sports with goal scoring, hat tricks occur when a player scores three goals in one game. Fans rarely throw hats onto the playing surface to acknowledge them due to their frequent occurrences in a game. When a player scores six goals in one game, it is referred to as a sock trick.
Motor racing
In motor racing, three successive race wins, winning the same event three times in a row, or securing
pole position, fastest lap and race victory in one event may all be referred to as a hat-trick.
Rugby football
In both codes of
rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
(
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
and
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
) a hat-trick is when a player scores three or more
tries in a game. In rugby union, a related concept is that of a "full house" (scoring a try,
conversion
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
,
penalty goal, and
drop goal
A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football.
A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...
) in a single game. When a player scored two tries, this is often referred to as a ''brace''. As with association football, it is common to award the match ball to a player who scores a hat-trick.
Ken Irvine
Kenneth John Irvine (5 March 1940 – 22 December 1990),
also nicknamed "Mongo", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He holds the standing Australian record for the most tries in a ...
and
Frank Burge
Frank Burge (14 August 1894 – 5 July 1958) was one of the greatest Rugby league positions#Forwards, forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia. Later Burge became one of the game’s finest coaches. His club career was with Glebe (ru ...
both scored 16 hat-tricks in Australian first grade rugby league.
Shaun Johnson scored a hat-trick in under 6 minutes against the
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...
in 2013, and in the
2017 Rugby League World Cup
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...
,
Valentine Holmes scored a double hat-trick (6 tries) against Fiji.
Water polo
In
water polo
Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
, if a player scores thrice in a game, a hat-trick is made.
See also
*
Hitting for the cycle
In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League ...
*
Nap hand
A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to Somnolence, drowsiness during waking hours. A nap is a form of Biphasic and po ...
*
Trifecta
file:Trifecta.svg, Trifecta
A trifecta is a parimutuel betting, parimutuel bet placed on a horse race in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third, in the exact order. Known as a trifecta in the US and Austra ...
*
Triple Crown (disambiguation)
Triple Crown may refer to:
Sports Horse racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)
** Triple Crown Trophy
** Triple Crown Productions
* Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Trip ...
*
Turkey (bowling)
In bowling, a ''strike'' means that all of the pins have been knocked down on the first ball roll of a frame. On a bowling scoresheet, a strike is marked by an "X".
In American nine-pin bowling, a ringer is an equivalent term for knocking down ...
*
Triple double
In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hat-Trick
1858 introductions
Hat-trick
Association football terminology
Bowling (cricket)
Cricket terminology
Field hockey terminology
Gaelic games terminology
Ice hockey terminology
Rugby league terminology
Rugby union terminology
Water polo terminology