List of Australian club rugby union competitions

See also: List of Australian rugby union teams

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 districts and suburbs. The teams represented in the first grade can and have changed over time, and are open to change at the discretion of the governing body.

Shute Shield

See also: Shute Shield

The Shute Shield is a rugby union competition in Sydney, New South Wales. It is the premier grade rugby trophy in NSW rugby. The Shute Shield is awarded in the first half of the Sydney club season. The Shield is contested by the twelve NSWRU clubs.

The first Sydney club competition was in 1874, competed by Balmain, Newington College, Uni and The King's School. The Shute Shield is seen as the traditional successor.

The trophy was donated to the New South Wales Rugby Union in 1923 by Sydney University Football Club, and was named in honour of Robert Elliott Stewart Shute who died while playing for The Rest v NSW XV on 5 June 1922.^[1]

Teams

The teams currently in the Shute Shield are:

Jersey	Club	Location	Home Ground	Nickname	First season
	Eastern Suburbs	Upper Eastern Suburbs, (Rose Bay)	Woolahra Oval	The Beasties	1900
	Eastwood	Northern Suburbs, (Eastwood)	T G Millner Field	The Woodies	1927 (1947 first division admittance)
	Gordon	Upper North Shore, (Chatswood)	Chatswood Oval	Highlanders	1936
	Manly	Lower Northern Beaches, (Manly)	Manly Oval	The Marlins	1906
	Northern Suburbs	Lower North Shore, (North Sydney)	North Sydney Oval	The Shoremen, Norths, The Red and Blacks	1900
	Parramatta	Parramatta	Granville Park	Two Blues	1879 (as Cumberland, 1900 name change)
	Penrith	Penrith	Nepean Rugby Park	Emus	1965 (Shute Shield admittance 1995)
	Randwick	Lower Eastern Suburbs, (Randwick/Coogee)	Coogee Oval	Galloping Greens, The wicks	1882
	Southern Districts	St George and The Shire	Forshaw Park	The Rebels	1989, (St George DRC – 1906, Port Hacking RC – 1957)
	Sydney University	Sydney University, (Inner West, CBD Boundarys, Sydney University)	University Oval No.1	The Students	1863
	Warringah	Upper Northern Beaches, (Narabeen)	Pittwater Park	The Rats, Ratties	1963
	West Harbour	Inner West,(Concord)	Concord Oval	Pirates	1900 (as Western Suburbs DRFC)

Queensland Premier Rugby

See also: Queensland Premier Rugby

Queensland Premier Rugby is a club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Ten clubs compete in the competition, eight of which are from Brisbane, with a club each from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast also competing. The competition has been contested in its present form since 1929.^[2]

Previous to 1920 the Hospital Football Challenge was established as a fund-raising exercise for the Brisbane hospitals. After the devastation of World War I the competition was suspended until the Hospitals Cup was established. The current champions are Brothers who defeated Souths in the 2009 grand final.

Teams

The teams currently in Queensland Premier Rugby are:

Club	Location	Home Ground	Nickname	First season
Brothers	Marist Old Boys	Crosby Park	The Filth	1905
Easts	East Brisbane	Bottomly Park	The Tigers	1947
.Gold Coast	Gold Coast	Albert Park	The Breakers	1996
GPS Rugby	Past Grammar, Running Rugby	Ashgrove Sports Ground	Jeeps	1887
Norths/QUT	Northern Brisbane, Queensland University of Technology	Shaw Sportz	The Eagles	1974
Souths	Southern Brisbane	Chipsy Wood Oval	Magpies	1948
Sunnybank	Sunnybank	Biggs Field	Dragons	1969
Sunshine Coast	Sunshine Coast	Stockland Park	Stingrays, Rays	2005
University of QLD	University of QLD	University of Queensland, St Lucia	The Red Heavies, The Students	1911
Wests	West Brisbane, Toowong	Toowong Memorial Park, which is referred to as "Sylvan Road".	The Bulldogs	1951

RugbyWA KWIK Premier

See also: RugbyWA

The KWIK WA Premier Grade is competed by 10 teams from the Greater Perth Area.

Teams

The teams currently in the RugbyWA KWIK Premier are:

• Associates
• Cottesloe
• Kalamunda
• Nedlands
• Palmyra
• Perth Bayswater
• Rockingham
• UWA
• Wanneroo
• Wests Subiaco

ACTRU Premier Division

Main article: ACTRU Premier Division

The ACTRU Premier Division is a rugby union club competition based in Canberra, Australia, and conducted by the region's governing body, the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union. It contains four Senior Grades of competition plus Colts, and is competed by the seven ACT Premier Division clubs, plus ADFA, which fields teams in Colts and 3rd Grade only.

First Grade teams compete for the John I Dent Cup. The Cup, which was first played for in 1938, was a gift to the Union by John I Dent. All of the finals are played at Viking Park.

Teams

The teams Currently competing in the John I Dent Cup are:

• Canberra Royals
• Easts
• Gungahlin Eagles
• Queanbeyan Whites
• Tuggeranong Vikings
• Uni-Norths Owls
• Wests Lions

Victorian Premier Rugby

See also: Dewar Shield

After celebrating its Centenary in 2009 the VRU is now keen to set the scene with an exciting and competitive season leading to the debut of the new Melbourne Rebels franchise into the Super Competition in 2011.

Teams

The teams currently in the Dewar Shield are:

• Boroondara
• Box Hill
• Endeavour Hills
• Footscray
• Harlequin
• Melbourne Rugby Club
• Melbourne University
• Moorabbin
• Power House
• Southern Districts

Tasmanian Division One

See also: Tasmanian Rugby Union

Teams

The teams currently in the Tasmanian Division One are:

• Burnie
• Devonport
• Eastern Suburbs
• Glenorchy
• Hobart Harlequins
• Hobart Lions
• Launceston
• Taroona
• University of Tasmania

Darwin Competition

See also: Northern Territory Rugby Union

The Darwin Rugby Union competition is the oldest and longest running in the Northern Territory. There are five clubs based in the metropolitan area that have senior A and B grades. In addition to the five metropolitan clubs there is the Litchfield Swampdogs in the Darwin rural area and Jabiru Bushratz which is a one team club competing in the Darwin B grade competition.

Teams

• Casuarina Cougars
• Darwin Dragons
• Palmerstown Crocs
• South Darwin Rabbitohs
• University Pirates

South Australian Premier Grade

See also: South Australia Rugby Union

Teams

• Adelaide University
• Brighton
• Burnside
• Old Collegians
• Onkaparinga
• Port Adelaide
• Southern Suburbs
• Woodville

References

1. ^ "Tooheys New Shute Shield". New South Wales Rugby Union. http://www.nswrugby.com.au/TooheysNewShuteShieldSydneyGrade/TooheysNewShuteShield/AbouttheTooheysNewShuteShield.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-30. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Queensland qru | Hospital Cup Winners