The NSW Junior State Championships has a long and distinguished history.

Our earliest records show the first NSW Juniors State Champs back in 1958 under the guidance of the then President (and Life Member #1 - J.B.Carroll. These first Champs were run across the U14 & U16 Boys age groups with Eastwood District taking out both of these initial trophies – The Hawton Trophy for U14s and the Chas Hansen Trophy for U16s.  

Various other age groups joined over the years to see us in the format that we are today in our 67^th year of our State Champs.

Some interesting points that people may not know about the State Champs are

• The ACTJRU was an affiliated member of NSW Juniors up until 1993 when they seceded to their own Union.
• The Girls State Champs began in 2018 with West Harbour taking the U17 Girls and a combined Parramatta-Randwick taking the U15 Girls titles.
• All the State Champs Shields & Cups are named after influential figures who helped shape the State Champs to what they are today.
• The Rugby Club Foundation has been a huge supporter of the State Champs and grassroots junior rugby.
• The Player Pool & Rep pathways have boosted participation across all age groups.
• The Boys U18 Rep pathway changes have grown the U18 Boys State Champs to record numbers and saw the 2023 NSW U18 Juniors XV win the Australian Schools Championships – the first time a Club Rugby team had done so.
• 2024 will see the first NSW Junior Girls XV’s teams selected in the U16 & U18 Age groups – their pathways starts with the State Champs.

The growth of the NSW Junior State Championships has been  quite rapid in the past decade… In 2014 we had a total of 123 teams competing across all age groups. A decade later and we are at 211 teams. This equates to over 4,500 junior Rep Rugby players taking part in what must be the largest junior rugby carnival in Australia.

The inclusion of the NSW Country Champs and Sydney Cups has also been another positive factor in the growth of these Champs

Some other articles that may interest you on the history of the Champs and NSW Juniors can be found below

https://www.nswjuniors.com.au/post/nswjru-state-champs-shields-and-trophies

https://www.nswjuniors.com.au/post/a-brief-history-of-administration-in-nsw-junior-rugby

‍https://www.nswjuniors.com.au/life-members

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