Our History

Competed for since 1911, the Barnard Cup is awarded to the best Mens Premier team on the Island. In its current format, four Premier clubs play a double round robin across the season, with the top of the table claiming the cup. No playoffs.

The cup itself is a chronicle of Island rugby's centre of gravity — for stretches of the 1940s through the 1980s it lived almost exclusively at the James Bay Athletic Association. UVic claimed it through dynastic runs in the late 1960s and again in the 2010s. In the modern era, Castaway Wanderers and Velox / Westshore have shared the silverware.

Awarded to the best Division 1 club on the Island. Like the Barnard, it's settled across the season — eight clubs, double round robin, no playoffs. The trophy takes its name from the Island's paper of record, which has covered Vancouver Island rugby continuously since the cup's founding in 1932.

Notable on the register are the wartime entries — RCN College, Army Victoria, the Navy — and the run of Port Alberni success through the late 1980s and 1990s as a Division 1 power.

A new shield with a long lineage: the Wrafter / Spray honours two consecutive presidents of the VIRU whose terms shaped two decades of the union. John Wrafter (1999–2006) managed Island Tide to four Canadian Super League championships in five years; Andrew Spray (2007–2014) was a tireless advocate for the underdog and recipient of Sport BC's Presidents Award in 2016.

Unlike a league cup, this is a challenge shield — the holder defends it whenever they host another Island side. It changes hands in a single match.