Marist Albion RFC

A Brief History of the Spillane Cup

In 1925, Mr Charlie Spillane was the President of the Wanganui Marist Old Boys Club. He presented the Marist’s Cup for a regular competition game between Wellington and Wanganui Marist. The first game was held in 1926 for the cup that became commonly known as the Spillane Cup.

In 1927 Wanganui won the Spillane Cup for the first and only time in our history.

In 1930 Hamilton Marist issued a challenge to the then cup holder Wellington. That challenge resulted in the calling of a meeting in Wellington of the Marist Clubs of the North Island. The Clubs agreed to form the ‘New Zealand Marist Brothers Old Boys Football Association’ and they laid down plans to establish a permanent tournament. Approval was obtained from Mr Charlie Spillane to change the intent of the cup that he had donated from that of a 2 club challenge basis to that of a competition involving more Marist Clubs. Mr Charlie Spillane gave his approval and plans were formalised for the inaugural tournament – and so the first Spillane Cup Tournament was born.

The inaugural Spillane Tournament was held in Hamilton at Easter in 1931. The Spillane Cup was won by Auckland Marist. As the tournaments popularity grew more affiliated clubs came on board.

In 1933 the Spillane Cup Tournament was held at Spriggens Park, Wanganui.

In 1936 the Brennan Cup was added.

The only break in the sequence of tournaments was during the war years from 1940 – 1945 when no tournaments were held.

In 1947 Mr Charlie Spillane, Life Member of Wanganui Marist Old Boys and founder of the Spillane Cup, died.

In 1953 the Moran Cup was added.

In 1960 the Ham Cuming Cup was added.

In 1973 the Spillane Cup tournament was held in Wanganui.

In 2016 the Spillane Cup Tournament was hosted by Hamilton Marist. It involved 22 rugby teams from 13 Marist Clubs.

The contest for the Spillane Cup has grown over the many years into an annual New Zealand Marist preseason tournament. It is always a major feature in the preseason calendar of many Marist clubs from around the country as they test their preparations against each other ahead of their local club competitions.

Our Division 1 side will travel to the 2017 Spillane Cup Tournament being hosted by Palmerston North Old Boys Marist this weekend (11 and 12 March).

The schedule has been set for Saturday with our fixture looking like this:

1pm Marist Albion v Auckland Marist, the winner of this match advances to Sundays Ham Cuming Cup match.

If you haven't already, 'Like' our Facebook page 'Marist Albion Rugby Club' and stay tuned for live updates from Palmerston North over the course of the weekend.