Dewar Shield

Dewar Shield

Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1909; 117 years ago (1909)
No. of teams	10; See teams
Country	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Most recent champion	Power House (2026)
Most titles	Unicorns (20)

The Dewar Shield is a rugby union competition in Melbourne. It is the premier amateur rugby competition in Victoria. A total of ten teams from the Victorian Rugby Union compete for the Shield. 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 Unicorns, South Melbourne, St Kilda and University. Melbourne Unircorns 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 Melbourne Unicorns once again won the premiership defeating Box Hill in the Grand Final for the same Dewar Shield.

The Current (2026) Premiers are Power House who defeated Harlequins 39-36 in the Grand Final held at Box Hill

2026 was the 100th time the Dewar Shield had been awarded, due to the competition not being run during War Years, with Power House successfully defending their crown to win the historic 100th Grand Final and to complete a "Threepeat", having won the two years before.

The Premier competition is contested by ten clubs with each club fielding two teams (1st Grade, Reserve Grade). Other senior competitions offered are Metro 2nd Division with an A, B & C Grade, Colts (U20), Country, Women and Masters (over 35s).

A number of clubs have dominated the 1st Grade over the years. Melbourne Unicorns 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.

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

Dewar Shield Clubs

Teams that compete for the Dewar Shield

Est.	Colours	Club	Location	Home Ground	Nickname	Admitted to Premier Grade	Premierships (most recent)
1958		Box Hill	Box Hill	RHL Sparks Reserve	Broncos	1966	3 (2001)
1979		Endeavour Hills	Endeavour Hills	Frog Hollow Reserve	Eagles	2007
1928		Footscray	Footscray	Henry Turner Memorial Reserve	Bulldogs	1928	3 (1937)
1928		Melbourne Harlequins	Ashwood	Ashwood Reserve	Quins	1930	12 (2023)
1909		Melbourne Unicorns	Armadale	Romanis Reserve, Orrong Park	Unicorns	1929	20 (2019)
1909		Melbourne University	Parkville	Royal Park	Students	1910	6 (1967)
1965		Moorabbin	Moorabbin	Keys Rd Reserve	Rams	1965	15 (2012)
1933		Power House	Albert Park	Noel Clarke Field	House, The Society	1936	14 (2026)
1923		Kiwi Hawthorn	Hawthorn	Lewin Reserve	Kiwis	1987, (1923 as The Kiwi Club)	13 (1996)
2011		Brimbank	Deer Park	Bon Thomas Reserve	Bucks	2026

Winners

Victorian Rugby Union Premiership winners

Former clubs

(list may not be complete)

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

^b Southern Districts now play in the Premiership competition.

See also

• Victorian Rugby Union
• Melbourne Rebels
• List of oldest rugby union competitions
• List of Australian club rugby union competitions

References

External links

• Dewar Shield - Rugby Victoria