Lord's Taverners Shield

Background

Sport Inclusion Australia, formerly AUSRAPID, negotiated and worked with the AICF in 1992/93 to plan the first national event for players with an intellectual disability.    Sport Inclusion Australia strongly encouraged the AICF to play this alongside a mainstream event within its National Carnival.   The inaugural event took play at the Knox centre in Victoria in 1993 with Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia represented.

Following the success of this event, Sport Inclusion Australia met with The Lord’s Taverners Australia personnel to discuss a possible relationship and a 25 year partnership and sponsorship of the Lord’s Taverners Shield has ensued.   The Lord’s Taverners Australia and branches have continued the sponsorship for the 25 years and it totals in excess of $500,000.   Over the course of the Lord’s Taverners Shield this sponsorship has helped the lives of a staggering 360 young men and 7 women with an intellectual disability.   The Lord’s Taverners community are to be commended for their unwavering support in making sport accessible to all Australians.

At the same time, Sport Inclusion Australian Member Organisations have worked extremely hard at State level with State Indoor Cricket bodies to ensure teams were selected and prepared for the Event – every State/Territory have been represented at this event at some stage in its 25 year history.    It is also important to note that players must meet Sport Inclusion Australia eligibility criteria for determining intellectual disability.

The AICF, and now Cricket Australia, has been fantastic in their ongoing support of the event for the past 25 years and Sport Inclusion Australia has showcased the Lord’s Taverners Shield (Indoor Cricket) model to initiate many other national events – Ivor Burge Championships, Australian Tennis Championships, Australian Open to name a few.

These events and successful programs have been the catalyst behind other National Sport becoming more inclusive.

Award Winner & Past Players

Click here  to see each State & Territory's player lists from every year that they competed in the Lord's Taverners Shield. 

Click here  to access the full tournament wrap-ups from each of the Australia Indoor Open Championships. These include individual award recipients, All Star / AUS team selection and Finals Scores.

Lord's Taverners Shield Honour Board