The Associated Independent Colleges, or AIC, is a group of independent

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s in south-east

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. With the exception of St Peters Lutheran College, AIC schools are all-boys schools (St Peter's secondary girls compete in the

Queensland Girls' Secondary Schools Sports Association The Queensland Girls' Secondary Schools Sports Association Inc (QGSSSA) is a sporting Professional association, association for girls from eight Private school, private girls' schools, one co-educational private school, and one co-educational Pu ...

). The AIC was founded in 1998 as an athletic association for male secondary students. All eight colleges were formerly members of

The Associated Schools The Associated Schools (TAS) is an incorporated body involving fourteen co-educational independent Queensland secondary schools in a variety of sporting and cultural activities established in 1956 following the disbanded Metropolitan Secondary S ...

(TAS), founded in 1956. Some colleges were originally members of the Metropolitan Catholic Schools Association (MCSA), founded in 1934. The most prominent sports contested include

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, as well as

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

History

The Associated Independent Colleges was formed in 1998 with the first year of competition being 1999. All AIC members were previously in

(TAS). The TAS had expanded to include fifteen schools by the mid 1990s and the standard of competition was falling. The colleges with the strongest athletic programs in the TAS competition's top division moved to form the AIC. After the AIC was founded, only one all-boys school remained in TAS, the now defunct Marist Brothers College Rosalie. In protest of the departure of the eight AIC schools from TAS competition, all TAS schools with a primary school attached withdrew from the Combined Independent Colleges (CIC) association for private primary schools in 1998. Six of the Associated Independent Colleges were foundation members of the CIC. The Combined Independent Colleges association was dissolved in 2013. Primary schools attached to AIC schools had previously competed against their Great Public Schools (GPS) counterparts within the CIC, but the headmasters of the GPS and AIC associations expanded their respective competitions in 2014 to include primary students from grades 5–7.

Schools

Starting in 2022, Ambrose Treacy College, Indooroopilly was invited to become a guest member for a two-year time span.

Sports

There are currently ten sports officially contested within the AIC: * Athletics (track and field) *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

Football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Four other sports are also offered: *

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

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 ...

Water polo is played as a social competition in Term 4. An invitational golf day is also held in Term 4, with the annual Gordon Balharry Shield awarded to the AIC school with the best team score on an adjusted handicap basis. Rugby league and Australian rules football competitions were introduced on a two-year opt-in trial basis for 2019. Ashgrove, Iona and St Laurence's have traditionally been prominent in the rugby competitions, although Padua has enjoyed recent success. St Peters, Villanova and Padua have tended to field strong soccer teams. St Patrick's has had success in cross country and Ashgrove and Iona have won the most titles in athletics and swimming. The sporting calendar for the AIC is split into terms: * 1st: Australian football Cricket Volleyball Swimming * 2nd: Chess Football Rugby union * 3rd: Basketball Cross country Rugby league Tennis * 4th: Athletics Golf Water polo The championships for swimming, cross country, track and field athletics and golf are held on a single day. The other sports are played in a round-robin format (no finals) with each school playing all others once. Premierships in each grade, for age divisions from under 13 to open, are won by the teams with most points over the season. The premierships for the schools' first teams in each sport, particularly the First XV rugby, tend to attract the most interest.

Championships

Athletics (track and field)

Winning teams on aggregate points for all age groups: Championships – Ashgrove (14),

Iona Iona (; , sometimes simply ''Ì'') is an island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there are other buildings on the island. Iona Abbey was a centre of Gaeli ...

(9), St Edmund's (3).

Cross Country

Winning teams on aggregate points for all age groups: Championships – Ashgrove (13),

(9), St Patrick's (5), St Laurence's (2).

Swimming

Winning teams on aggregate points for all age groups: Championships – Ashgrove (13), St Peters (13),

(2).

Premierships

First XV Rugby

List of First XV premiers and runners-up: Premierships – Ashgrove (14), St Laurence's (6),

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

(5),

(4), St Peters (2), St Edmund's (2), St Patrick's (1), Villanova (1). Notes:

First XI Cricket

List of First XI premiers and runners-up: Premierships – Ashgrove (11),

(9), Villanova (6), St Laurence's (2), St Patrick's (2),

(1).

First XI Football

List of First XI premiers and runners-up: Premierships – Ashgrove (11), Villanova (5),

(4), St Patrick's (3), St Laurence's (3),

(2), St Edmund's (1), St Peters (1).

First VI Volleyball

List of First VI premiers and runners-up: Premierships – Ashgrove (6), St Edmund's (5), St Peters (3), Villanova (4),

(3), St Laurence's (3),

(3), St Patrick's (1).

First V Basketball

List of First V premiers: Premierships – Ashgrove (10), Villanova (10),

(4), St Edmund's (4),

(3), St Laurence's (1), St Patrick's (1), St Peters (1).

First IV Tennis

List of First IV premiers: Premierships - St Peters (11), Ashgrove (6), Villanova (5),

(2),

(1), St Edmund's (1), St Patrick's (1), St Laurence's (1)

First IV Chess

The AIC chess competition began in 2004. List of First IV premiers: Premierships – St Laurence's (6),

(5), Ashgrove (4), Villanova (3), St Peters (3), St Edmund's (2),

(1).

First XVIII Australian football

The AIC competition was introduced in 2019. List of First XVIII premiers: Premierships - St Laurence's (5), Ashgrove (2),

(1), Villanova (1), St Patrick's (1) Notes:

First XIII Rugby league

The AIC competition was introduced in 2019. List of First XIII premiers: Premierships –

(2),

(2), Ashgrove (1), Villanova (1), St Patrick's (1).

Other sports

Golf

Teams of up to five compete for the Gordon Balharry Shield. List of Open team winners since 2011:

Water polo

Water polo is played as a social competition on an opt-in basis by AIC schools.

Touch Football

Touch Football is played as a social competition once a year between AIC schools, with teams competing in senior (10-12), middle (7-9) and primary (5-6) teams.

Other events

Aside from athletic competitions, the AIC has formed a community with many other interactions. Member schools participate in the QDU debating competition, various mission and social justice events, the Queensland Catholic Colleges Music Festival (QCMF) and other social functions. As all AIC schools are of Christian denomination, an Ecumenical service is hosted each year by one of the schools on a rotational basis. It is attended by staff and student leaders representing each school.

Notes

References

External links

aicsport.com.au
official website

Colleges

Iona College

Marist College Ashgrove

Padua College

St Edmund's College

St Laurence's College

St Patrick's College

St Peters Lutheran College

Villanova College
{{Associated Independent Colleges Australian school sports associations