The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales Challenge Shield, or RAS Shield was the New South Wales Rugby Football League's first premiership trophy. It was presented to each year's premiership winning rugby league team, and was won by South Sydney, Newtown and Eastern Suburbs. The first club to win three successive titles would take permanent ownership of the shield. The Eastern Suburbs club achieved this feat winning premierships in 1911, 1912 and 1913.
The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales was founded on 5 July 1822, when a group of Sydney's leading citizens formed the Agricultural Society of NSW, and is "a not-for-profit organisation committed to supporting agricultural development and rural communities in Australia." The society has been responsible for holding the Sydney Royal Easter Show since 1823.
The National Rugby League (NRL) is a league of professional men's rugby league teams in Australia. Run by the Australian Rugby League Commission, the NRL's main competition is known as the Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra and is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand. It is the most viewed and attended rugby league club competition in the world.
Rugby league is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 m wide and 112–122 m long. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in Northern England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules progressively changed with the aim of producing a faster, more entertaining game for spectators.
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The hand crafted black mahogany shield embossed with silver was donated to the NSWRFL by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales in its first year of competition.
Leading journalist Claude Corbett wrote in Sydney, Sun, newspaper on, 1 May 1914,
Claude Gordon Corbett (1885–1944 ) was an Australian sporting journalist who was highly respected and was the sporting editor for Sydney's Sun newspaper in the early twentieth century.
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As of June 2017, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,230,330 and is home to approximately 65% of the state's population.
The Royal Agricultural Society Shield, which was presented at the inception of the League's first grade competition has been won outright by Eastern Suburbs, who upset all calculations by winning the premiership three years in succession. The club has presented the shield to their captain, Dally Messenger, 'as a token of appreciation of his captaincy.
Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. Messenger, or 'The Master' as he was dubbed, represented New Zealand in two rugby union tests and seven rugby league tests. He played for New South Wales in the very first match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.
The shield was passed on from generation to generation in the Messenger family until in 2005, Dally Messenger III handed it over to the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. [1]
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980.
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory; 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne.
The shield is now part of the National Museum of Australia's National Historical Collection. [2] Its association with the genesis of rugby league in Australia, and its connection to the game's first great star, make it one of the most important rugby league treasures held in a public collection in Australia.
