One of rugby league’s best nurseries opens again this week when the 2017 Confraternity Carnival is held in Brisbane.
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Teams from 48 Queensland Catholic schools including Mount Isa’s Good Shepherd Catholic College will contest the Carnival, which has featured some of the best players in the state’s modern rugby league history.
Since the Confraternity Shield was first contested in 1980, the Carnival has featured 150 future NRL players including 30 State of Origin representatives and 20 Kangaroos players.
The graduates have included Johnathan Thurston, Wendell Sailor, Anthony Milford, Ben Hunt, Matt Bowen, Matt Scott, Nate Myles and new Origin player Coen Hess.
The Confraternity Carnival is staged by the Queensland Independent Secondary Schools’ Rugby League and will this year be hosted by Brisbane’s Padua College at its playing grounds at Banyo.
Padua College Rector Peter Elmore said the Confraternity Carnival brought together teams from across the state. “The Carnival has grown in size but it remains an event in which sportsmanship, respect and fellowship are most highly valued,” Mr Elmore said.
We are proud of the many Catholic schools and players who have contested this event since 1980
- Peter Elmore
The Confraternity Carnival was first played among six schools in 1980.
It now attracts entries from Brisbane’s traditional rugby union schools including Marist College, Ashgrove, St Patrick’s College, Shorncliffe and St Laurence’s College, South Brisbane.
The Brisbane schools have their work cut out against their northern counterparts, who dominate the competition. Ignatius Park College, Townsville, won its fifth Confraternity Shield last year to inch closer to St Brendan’s, Yeppoon (13 wins) and St Patrick’s, Mackay (eight) in the overall list of champion schools.
Mount St Bernard College, Herberton and St Mary’s College, Woree will contest the carnival for the first time. They will play against the likes of Good Shepherd Catholic College.
The Carnival is contested in three divisions with matches to be played on June 26, 27, 29 and 30.
Each team plays two matches of 20-minute halves on the opening two days before finals begin. Some matches will be played at the Australian Catholic University’s Banyo campus.