Scotch College

Tait Trophy 2008 marks sesquicentenary of schoolboy sport

Before the first game of Australian Rules football was played, Scotch College and Geelong Grammar competed in the first game of schoolboy sport in Victoria, a cricket match in 1858.

Words: MATTHEW GROSE • CAPTAIN OF CRICKET

On 26 February 1858, the first public school sporting contest in Victoria was a cricket match played at Geelong between Scotch College and Geelong Grammar School.

We have no photographic evidence of the state of the pitch or the skill of the batsmen and bowlers, but the scorebook records a game dominated by bowlers.

Scotch scored 48 all out, and Geelong replied with 67. Scotch improved in their second innings with a total of 80 runs, leaving Geelong the target of 62 to win, but they were bundled out for 47 – Scotch were the winners by 14 runs.

The Tait brothers from Geelong dominated their bowling, taking 13 of the 20 Scotch wickets that fell. James Tait also scored 35 runs in the Geelong first innings.

The following year the brothers John and George Tait moved to Scotch, and their transfer greatly strengthened the Scotch XI. The reason for the brothers’ transfer was due to their father moving to Melbourne. There has never been any rumour of a sporting scholarship being offered by Scotch!

In 1997 the two schools struck the Tait Trophy, as a perpetual trophy which commemorates the Tait brothers’ connections to both schools. The trophy is also in recognition of the first sporting contest between public schools in Victoria, and in acknowledgment of the wonderful relationship that exists between Scotch College and Geelong Grammar School.

On Friday 22 and Saturday 23 February on the Scotch Main Oval, the annual APS cricket match between Scotch and Geelong Grammar marked 150 years of tradition since that first match in February 1858. This year Geelong Grammar were the victors, defeating Scotch by 133 runs. GS