The NRL Schoolboy Cup is the premier

secondary schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

competition in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, held annually since 1975. Formerly known under such names as the Amco Shield, Commonwealth Bank Cup, Arrive Alive Cup and GIO Schoolboy Cup nearly 450 schools from throughout Australia compete in the knock-out competition. The player of the tournament is awarded the Peter Sterling Medal, renamed in 1996 after Peter Sterling, who won the medal in 1978. The competition is televised on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

. The most successful school is

St Gregory's College, Campbelltown , motto_translation = What you sow, so shall you reap , established = , type = Independent single-sex and co-educational comprehensive and specialist primary and secondary day and boarding school , specialist = Agricultural s ...

, with nine titles, while the most recent champions are

Kirwan State High School Kirwan State High School is a coeducational state school located in Kirwan, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, approximately from the Townsville CBD. In 2017, it has 1997 students with 156 teachers (145 full-time equivalent) and 75 non-teachi ...

, who won their second title in 2019.

History

The competition started in 1975 as the Amco Shield. The inaugural winners were

Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield , motto_translation = Mary Leads Us , location = Fairfield, south-western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_image = , pushpin_mapsize ...

who defeated Blacktown High School in the final, 16–8. The match was played at

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

as a curtain raiser to the 1975

Amco Cup The Amco Cup (subsequently known by various other sponsors' names including the Tooth Cup, KB Cup, National Panasonic Cup and Panasonic Cup) was a mid-week rugby league competition held in Australia between 1974 and 1989. The format was usual ...

final between

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

and

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. Originally, the televised matches of the competition were played and recorded as the curtain raisers to mid week

games. After the midweek competitions died out, the televised matches were played prior to Friday Night Football and were shown on Channel 9 in the weeks leading up to the

NRL Grand Final The NRL Grand Final determines the champions of the National Rugby League club competition. It is a major sport event in Australia. Since 1999, it has been contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Australia ...

. The games are currently played and recorded midweek and shown on

, with commentary by

Andrew Voss Andrew Voss (born 7 September 1966) is an Australian rugby league commentator and radio and television personality who works for Fox League. Voss previously worked for the SKY Network Television as a commentator, and at the Nine Network, inclu ...

. In 1978,

Padua College, Brisbane Padua College is an independent Roman Catholic boys' primary and high school located in the Brisbane suburb of Kedron, Queensland, Australia. The College is the only school owned and operated by the Franciscan Friars in Australia and only the ...

were the first

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

school and first school from outside of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

to make the final. They lost 19–3 to

. In 1980,

became the first school to win back-to-back titles. They later became the first school to win three titles in a row from 1989 to 1991. In 1982 Holy Cross College, Ryde became the first school to play in four consecutive finals from 1979. They lost three of their four finals, with their only victory coming against

in 1981. In 1996, Erindale College, Canberra became the first school from the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

to reach the final. A year later they became the first school from outside of

to win the competition. They won the competition again in 1998, beating

Parramatta Marist High School , motto_translation = Go Forth With Strength , location = 2 Darcy Road, Westmead, Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia ...

in both years. In 2001,

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School Palm Beach Currumbin State High School (PBC High School or PBC) is an independent co-educational public school (government funded), in the Gold Coast suburb of Currumbin, Queensland, Australia. PBC is Queensland's southernmost coastal High sch ...

became the first

school to win the competition. Brisbane's

Wavell State High School Wavell State High School is a coeducational independent public secondary school based in Wavell Heights, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The school has a total enrolment of more than 1500 students from years 7–12, with an official cou ...

became the second a year later in 2002.

Endeavour Sports High School Endeavour Sports High School (abbreviated as ESHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located in Caringbah, a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Austral ...

won the competition three years in a row from 2004 to 2006, becoming the first school to do so since 1991. In 2015, Townsville's

became the first school from

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

to win the competition, defeating

Patrician Brothers' College, Blacktown Patrician Brothers' College, Blacktown is a Roman Catholic single-sex secondary day school for boys, located in Blacktown, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History The College was founded in 1952 by the Patrician Broth ...

, who were in their fourth straight final, losing the last three in a row. In 2016,

Westfields Sports High School , motto_translation = Courage and Valour , established = , location = 406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , type = Government-funded co-educational comprehensive a ...

won the competition for the first time. In 2017,

Keebra Park State High School Keebra Park State High School (KPSHS), referred to as Keebra Park or Keebra, is a co-educational public secondary school, located in the Gold Coast suburb of Southport, Queensland, Australia. Notable alumni Cricket * Ingrid Cronin-Knight – I ...

became first

school to win the competition three times, becoming the most successful school in the state. A year later, Palm Beach Currumbin won their third title, drawing level with Keebra Park. In 2019,

won the competition for the second time, making it three straight years a Queensland school has won. In 2020 and 2021, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, no national finals were held for the first time in the competition's history. In 2022, after a three year absence, the national final returned, with

Ipswich State High School Ipswich State High School is a state secondary school in the suburb of Brassall, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, established in 1963, On the site of the original Brassall State High School. Simon Riley is the current principal since 2005. The ...

defeating

to win their first title.

Naming rights

Due to sponsorship, the Schoolboy Cup has gone under many different names since first being held in 1975. Originally known as the Amco Shield, it has been known as the NRL Schoolboy Cup since 2018. * Amco Shield (1975–1979) *

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...

Cup (1980–1996) *

Aussie Home Loans Aussie is an Australian retail financial services group with operations spanning all mainland capital cities and major regional centres throughout Australia. , Aussie reported a loan book under management of over A$42 Billion through 750 brok ...

Cup (1997–1999) *

Nutri-Grain Nutri-Grain is a brand of breakfast cereal and breakfast bar made by the Kellogg Company. In Australia and New Zealand Nutri-Grain is a breakfast cereal made from corn, oats, and wheat. The pieces are shaped like bricks. In the United States, C ...

Cup (2000–2002) * Arrive Alive Cup (2003–2009) * National Schoolboy Cup (2010–2011) *

GIO Gio or GIO may refer to: People * Gio (nickname) * Gio (footballer, born 1984), Spanish * Gio (singer) (born 1990) * Gio people, an ethnic group in northeastern Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire Science and technology * Gi/o, protein subunits * GIO, ...

Schoolboy Cup (2012–2017) * NRL Schoolboy Cup (2018–present)

Champions

Titles

Peter Sterling Medal

The Peter Sterling Medal is awarded to the most outstanding player in the competition. Sterling, one of rugby league's most decorated players, won the award in 1978 while attending

. In 1996, the medal was renamed in his honour.

References

External links

GIO Schoolboy Cup website
{{Rugby League in Queensland Rugby league competitions in Australia 1975 in rugby league Junior rugby league Recurring sporting events established in 1975 1975 establishments in Australia High school sports in Australia National cup competitions