McEvedy Shield

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The McEvedy Shield.

The McEvedy Shield is a domestic New Zealand athletics competition held in Wellington for four of the boys' secondary schools. It is the largest annual athletics meet in the Southern Hempisphere, in terms of its number of participants. The shield itself was donated by Dr P.F McEvedy, an old boy of St Patrick's Town, who went on to represent England in rugby union, in 1922 to promote the spirit of athletic competition between Wellington secondary schools and has become one of the highlights of the sporting calendar for the colleges involved. The McEvedy Shield track and field competition is held annually every March in Wellington City between the traditional boys' colleges.

On the morning of McEvedy Shield the pupils of rival colleges St Patrick's Town and Wellington College congregate at Wellington central railway station and bus-ways and perform their own school haka to one another. From around 9:30am the students from all four schools turn up en masse and pack themselves into Newtown Park. The competition itself features 14 track and field events across four age groups.

St. Patrick's Town is the current holder of the shield after breaking a four year winning streak by Wellington College.

[edit] Colleges Involved

The McEvedy Shield is a wooden shield that was first competed for in 1922. Over the years there have been a number of schools that have taken part in the event, such as Hutt Valley High School, Scots College and Wairarapa High School (who actually shared the Shield in 1925 with Wellington College, and won outright in 1927) but in the early 1980s it was decided that only the four traditional boys' schools would be able to compete. Wellington College and St. Patrick's Town are the only two schools that remain from the original contest in 1922, with Rongotai College being added in the late 1920s and St. Patrick's Silverstream taking part in their first year of existence, 1931. Only the four traditional boys' schools now compete for the Shield - In no particular order these are:

• St. Patrick's College, Town
• Wellington College
• St. Patrick's College, Silverstream
• Rongotai College

[edit] History of results

Wellington College has dominated the McEvedy Shield, winning the event on 47 occasions during the 87 years it has been contested. Recently the college has won the shield in 11 of the last 15 years (exceptions were when St. Patrick's Silverstream won in 2002-2003, and St. Patrick's Town won in 1998 and 2008)

St. Patrick's Town have won the shield 16 times since the competition began in 1922. St Pat's most successful period was during the 80's and early 90's when for 11 years from 1982-1992 St. Patrick's College won the shield 9 times. St. Patrick's Town are the current shield holders, winning their first title in 10 years on March 4, 2008.

St. Patrick's Silverstream have won the Shield 14 times, and despite Wellington College's dominance over the years, it is Silverstream who hold the record for the most consecutive shield victories, winning six titles in consecutive years from 1968-1973.

Rongotai College have triumphed 7 times in the competition. The last occasion was in 1989.

[edit] Recent results

Wellington College students performing the school haka after winning the 2005 McEvedy Shield.

Students from St. Patrick's College, Wellington cheering in the stands.

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

[edit] Venue

Each year the competition is held at Newtown Park in the suburb of Newtown, Wellington. Where the students from the four colleges stand, rotates every year as the main stand can only support two of the four colleges. For example if Wellington College and Rongotai College are in the stands one year then St. Patrick's Silverstream and St. Patrick's Town will be in the stands the next. The schools that aren't in the main stand gather on the surrounding banks.

The four colleges on the banks & stands of Newtown Park.