The Dewar Shield is a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
competition in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...
. It is the professional and semi-professional premier grade for rugby in Victoria. A total of nine teams from the
Victorian Rugby Union
Rugby Victoria, formerly the Victorian Rugby Union, is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within the state of Victoria, it is the governing body for the sport of rugby union.
Rugby Victoria manages competitions for males and femal ...
compete for the trophy. Local TV
Channel 31 broadcasts one game a week on Wednesday evenings. The Rebel Army periodically have online text-based commentary of matches.
History
The Victorian Rugby Union senior competition was established in 1909 with five teams, namely East Melbourne, Melbourne, South Melbourne, St Kilda and University. The Melbourne Rugby Club of that time won the first year of the five-team competition for the new trophy the Dewar Shield (donated by the Scotch Whisky Distillery John Dewar and Sons). One hundred years later in 2009 the current Melbourne Rugby Club is the reigning premiers, defeating Box Hill in the Grand Final for the same Dewar Shield.
The Premier competition is contested by nine clubs with each club fielding three teams (Premier 1, Premier 2, and Premier 3). Other senior competitions offered are Metro 2nd Division with an A, B & C Grade, Colts (U20), Country, Women and Masters (over 35s).
During this time, a number of clubs have dominated the 1st Grade results. Melbourne Rugby Club has the most number of Premierships with 17. Moorabbin holds the record for consecutive Premierships, winning six in a row from 1981 to 1986. Other prominent clubs during this 100-year period include Melbourne University, Power House and Navy.
[
Footscray and ]Endeavour Hills
Endeavour Hills is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Endeavour Hills recorded a population of 24,455 at the .
Endeavour Hi ...
were promoted to the Premier division for the 2011 season.
Premier Division clubs
Dewar Shield winners
Victorian Rugby Union Premiership winners (from 1946 onwards):[
]
Former Premier Division clubs
(list may not be complete)
* East Melbourne
* South Melbourne
* St Kilda
* Hawthorn
* Kiwi
* Navy
* R.A.A.F
* Boroondara/Kiwi-Hawthorna
* South Melbourne
* Southern Districts RUC
* Geelong
* Northcote/Northern
a Kiwi-Hawthorn now play in the Second Division A competition.
See also
*Victorian Rugby Union
Rugby Victoria, formerly the Victorian Rugby Union, is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within the state of Victoria, it is the governing body for the sport of rugby union.
Rugby Victoria manages competitions for males and femal ...
*Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...
*List of oldest rugby union competitions
The following article lists the oldest known rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the C ...
*List of Australian club rugby union competitions
In Australia, what is considered the third tier of Rugby is often referred to as club rugby, grade rugby or premier rugby. Club Rugby often focuses on the major metropolitan areas of the respective unions, with teams representing various distr ...
References
External links
Dewar Shield webpage
on Melbourne Rebels official site
Club websites
Box Hill RUFCEndeavour Hills RUFCFootscray RUCHarlequin RUCMelbourne RUFC
Melbourne University RFCMoorabbin RUFCPower House RUFC
{{VRUclubs, state=expanded
Rugby union competitions in Victoria
Sports competitions in Melbourne
Recurring sporting events established in 1909
1909 establishments in Australia
Sports leagues established in 1909