The Veterrimi IV (''veterrimi four'' or ''V4'') is a rugby tournament between four of the oldest

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

playing schools in the world. The event is scheduled to be held biennially or

triennially An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

(every two to three years). "Veterrimi" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "oldest".

Conception

The idea for the Veterrimi IV tournament came from Durham School's director of sport, Ben Mason. To celebrate the long histories of playing rugby in English schools he conceived bringing four of the oldest of these clubs together to play a two-day tournament. On the first day participating in a round-robin tournament to qualify for a final and a third-fourth "wooden-spoon" match on the second day.

Participants

Schools that have taken part in the tournament are:

Trophy

The winner of the Veterrimi IV tournament is awarded the AJ Dingle Trophy named in honour of

Arthur James Dingle Arthur "Mud" James Dingle (16 October 1891 – 22 August 1915) was a rugby union centre and wing, who won three caps for England, and played for County Durham, Hartlepool Rovers and Oxford University. He was born and raised in County Durham, ...

who was a pupil at

Durham School Durham School is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located in Durham, North East England and was an all-boys institution until 1985, when girls were admitted to the sixth form. The school takes pupils a ...

, an

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

and who was capped three times for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

playing on the wing. He participated in the very last Five Nations match before the outbreak of war before joining the

East Yorkshire Regiment The East Yorkshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685 as Sir William Clifton's Regiment of Foot and later renamed the 15th Regiment of Foot. It saw service for three centuries, before eventually being ...

and, after a failed attack during the largest battle of the Gallipoli campaign, he was listed as missing presumed killed. His body was never found.

Inaugural tournament (Durham 2010)

The first tournament was hosted by Durham School, taking place on Saturday 23 October. There was unrelenting rain but the supporters turned out in their hundreds to be part of this special day. Durham School and Rugby School battled it out in the final, with the A J Dingle Trophy finally going to Rugby School. The event received extensive coverage by the national and local press as well as specialist rugby media including Sky Sports Rugby Club News, Sky Sports News, BBC Look North and Metro Radio.

Round robin

Knockout

Second tournament (Sherborne 2013)

Rugby School, having won the first tournament, dropped out of the second; St Paul's School took their place. Sherborne were missing two players, both of whom had been selected to play for England U18 against

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Academy. The first four games on the first day finished with two out of two wins for St Paul's and Durham. The remaining two games being unnecessary to decide the finalists it was decided that straight finals would be played on the Sunday with Durham and St Paul's in the main final and Sherborne and Cheltenham playing in the 3rd/4th place play-off. After day 1 of the competition Sherborne School hosted a black tie dinner for parents and players with guest speaker John Bentley. Durham were presented with the AJ Dingle cup by Tim Stirk ( OD), president of England Rugby Football Schools Union.

Round robin

Knockout

Third tournament (Cheltenham 2015)

The next occurrence of the event was held by

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

between Friday 30 October and Sunday 1 November 2015. The first round of matches started at 10am, the second round at 12noon with a hog roast between 12noon and 2pm. The teams taking part were

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. T ...

Conception

Participants

Trophy

Inaugural tournament (Durham 2010)

Round robin

Knockout

Second tournament (Sherborne 2013)

Round robin

Knockout

Third tournament (Cheltenham 2015)

Round robin

Knockout

Fourth tournament (2017)

Round robin

Knockout

See also

References