Dewar Shield

Dewar Shield
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1909; 115 years ago
No. of teams	8; See teams
Country	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Most recent; champion(s)	Power House (2024)
Most titles	Melbourne (20)

The Dewar Shield is a rugby union competition in Melbourne. It is the premier amateur rugby competition in Victoria. A total of eight teams from the Victorian Rugby Union compete for the trophy. Clubs must field teams in 3 grades, Dewar Shield Reserves (Penwill Cup) and Dewar Shield 3rd Grade (Mawhinney Cup), to be eligible to compete.

A "Game of the week" is streamed on the Rugby Victoria Facebook Page.

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 once again won the premiership defeating Box Hill in the Grand Final for the same Dewar Shield. The Current (2024) Premiers are Power House who defeated Footscray 31-12 in the Grand Final held at Box Hill

The Premier competition is contested by eight clubs with each club fielding three teams (1st Grade, Reserve Grade, and 3rd Grade). 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 20. 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.^[1]

Footscray and Endeavour Hills were promoted to the Premier division for the 2011 season.

Dewar Shield Clubs

Club	Location	Home ground	Nickname	Founded	First season
Box Hill	Box Hill	RHL Sparks Reserve	Broncos	1958	1966
Endeavour Hills	Endeavour Hills	Frog Hollow Reserve	Eagles	1979	2007
Footscray	Footscray	Henry Turner Memorial Reserve	Bulldogs	1928
Harlequin	Ashwood	Ashwood Reserve	Quins	1928	1930
Melbourne	Armadale	Romanis Reserve, Orrong Park	Unicorns	1909	1929
Melbourne University	Parkville	Royal Park	Students	1909	1910
Moorabbin	Moorabbin	Keys Rd Reserve	Rams	1965
Power House	Albert Park	Albert Park	The Society	1933	1936

Winners

Victorian Rugby Union Premiership winners ^[1]

1909 Melbourne
1910 Melbourne University
1911 East Melbourne
1912 Melbourne
1913 Melbourne
1914 South Melbourne
1915–25 No competition
1926 Navy
1927 Kiwis
1928 Kiwis
1929 Kiwis
1930 Melbourne
1931 Kiwis
1932 Footscray
1933 Navy
1934 Melbourne University
1935 Melbourne
1936 Footscray
1937 Footscray
1938 Power House
1939 Kiwis
1940 R.A.A.F.
1941–45 No competition
1946 Navy
1947 Navy
1948 Melbourne
1949 Melbourne
1950 Melbourne
1951 Navy
1952 Navy
1953 Navy
1954 Melbourne
1955 Harlequin
1956 Power House
1957 Navy
1958 Power House
1959 Melbourne University
1960 Melbourne University
1961 Melbourne University
1962 Harlequin
1963 Melbourne University
1964 Melbourne University
1965 Melbourne
1966 Melbourne
1967 Melbourne University
1968 Power House
1969 Melbourne
1970 Kiwis
1971 Kiwis
1972 Kiwis
1973 Power House
1974 Power House
1975 Harlequin
1976 Kiwis
1977 Kiwis
1978 Moorabbin
1979 Kiwis
1980 Kiwis
1981 Moorabbin
1982 Moorabbin
1983 Moorabbin
1984 Moorabbin
1985 Moorabbin
1986 Moorabbin
1987 Power House
1988 Moorabbin
1989 Harlequin
1990 Moorabbin
1991 Moorabbin
1992 Harlequin
1993 Kiwi-Hawthorn
1994 Moorabbin
1995 Moorabbin
1996 Kiwi-Hawthorn
1997 Power House
1998 Melbourne
1999 Box Hill
2000 Box Hill
2001 Box Hill
2002 Moorabbin
2003 Melbourne
2004 Harlequin
2005 Moorabbin
2006 Power House
2007 Power House
2008 Power House
2009 Melbourne
2010 Melbourne
2011 Melbourne
2012 Moorabbin
2013 Harlequin
2014 Harlequin
2015 Harlequin
2016 Melbourne
2017 Harlequin
2018 Melbourne
2019 Melbourne
2020 COVID-19 - No winner
2021 COVID-19 - No winner
2022 Harlequin
2023 Harlequin
2024 Power House

Former clubs

(list may not be complete)

East Melbourne
South Melbourne
St Kilda
Hawthorn
Kiwi
Navy
R.A.A.F
Boroondara/Kiwi-Hawthorn^a
South Melbourne
Southern Districts^b
Geelong
Northcote/Northern

^a Kiwi-Hawthorn now play in the Premiership competition.

^b Southern Districts now play in the Premiership competition.

References

^ ^a ^b "Dewar Shield". Melbourne Rebels. 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.

External links

Dewar Shield - Rugby Victoria

Club websites

[rebs-dewar-2014-1] "Dewar Shield". Melbourne Rebels. 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.

[1]