Dewar Shield

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title: "Dewar Shield" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rugby-union-competitions-in-victoria-(state)", "sports-competitions-in-melbourne", "recurring-sporting-events-established-in-1909", "1909-establishments-in-australia", "sports-leagues-established-in-1909"] topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewar_Shield" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox sports league"]

Field	Value
title	Dewar Shield
logo	File:Dewar Shieid logo.png
pixels	150px
sport	Rugby union
founded
teams	9; See teams
country	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
champion	Power House (2025)
most successful club	Unicorns (20)
::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Dewar_Shield_2024.jpg" caption="Dewar Shield, 2024"] ::

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 (2025) Premiers are Power House who defeated Harlequins 45-29 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.

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

Dewar Shield Clubs

::data[format=table title="style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; line-height: 2.1em;"| Teams that compete for the Dewar Shield"]

Est.	Colours	Club	Location	Home Ground	Nickname	Admitted to Premier Grade	Premierships (most recent)
1958	[[File:Southern_Lions_Rugby.png	40x40px]]	Box Hill	Box Hill	RHL Sparks Reserve	Broncos	1966
1979	[[File:Queensland_Uni_Colours.svg	40x40px]]	Endeavour Hills	Endeavour Hills	Frog Hollow Reserve	Eagles	2007
1928	[[File:Easts_1901.svg	40x40px]]	Footscray	Footscray	Henry Turner Memorial Reserve	Bulldogs	1928
1928	[[File:Melbourne Harlequin Colours.png	40x40px]]	Melbourne Harlequins	Ashwood	Ashwood Reserve	Quins	1930
1909	[[File:Flag of Nátaga (Huila).svg	40x40px]]	Melbourne	Armadale	Romanis Reserve, Orrong Park	Unicorns	1929
1909	[[File:Joondalup_Rugby.png	40x40px]]	Melbourne University	Parkville	Royal Park	Students	1910
1965	[[File:Souths Magpies Colours.svg	40x40px]]	Moorabbin	Moorabbin	Keys Rd Reserve	Rams	1965
1933	[[File:Sunnybank Colours.svg	40x40px]]	Power House	Albert Park	Noel Clarke Field	House, The Society	1936
1923	[40x40px	.](file-west-harbour-colours-svg)	Kiwi Hawthorn	Hawthorn	Lewin Reserve	Kiwis	1987, (1923 as The Kiwi Club)
::

Winners

Victorian Rugby Union Premiership winners

1909 Unicorns
1910 Melbourne University
1911 East Melbourne
1912 Unicorns
1913 Unicorns
1914 South Melbourne
1915–25 No competition
1926 Navy
1927 Kiwis
1928 Kiwis
1929 Kiwis
1930 Unicorns
1931 Kiwis
1932 Footscray
1933 Navy
1934 Melbourne University
1935 Unicorns
1936 Footscray
1937 Footscray
1938 Power House
1939 Kiwis
1940 R.A.A.F.
1941–45 No competition
1946 Navy
1947 Navy
1948 Unicorns
1949 Unicorns
1950 Unicorns
1951 Navy
1952 Navy
1953 Navy
1954 Unicorns
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 Unicorns
1966 Unicorns
1967 Melbourne University
1968 Power House
1969 Unicorns
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 Unicorns
1999 Box Hill
2000 Box Hill
2001 Box Hill
2002 Moorabbin
2003 Unicorns
2004 Harlequin
2005 Moorabbin
2006 Power House
2007 Power House
2008 Power House
2009 Unicorns
2010 Unicorns
2011 Unicorns
2012 Moorabbin
2013 Harlequin
2014 Harlequin
2015 Harlequin
2016 Unicorns
2017 Harlequin
2018 Unicorns
2019 Unicorns
2020 COVID-19 - No winner
2021 COVID-19 - No winner
2022 Harlequin
2023 Harlequin
2024 Power House
2025 Power House

Former 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 Districtsb
Geelong
Northcote/Northern

a Kiwi-Hawthorn now play in the Premiership competition.

b Southern Districts now play in the Premiership competition.

References

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::