Catholic school students from across Queensland are this week adding a new chapter to one of rugby league’s most famous gatherings as the Confraternity Carnival is held in Brisbane.
A total of 52 boys’ teams and 12 girls’ teams have gathered at St Laurence’s College’s playing fields at Runcorn for a carnival that has produced some of the greatest names in modern rugby league history.
Johnathan Thurston (St Mary’s College, Toowoomba), Daly Cherry-Evans (St Patrick’s College, Mackay), Cameron Munster (Emmaus College, Rockhampton) and Matt Scott (St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon) are just some of the Catholic school students to have featured in the 43 years of Confraternity Carnival history.
A total of 18 Brisbane Catholic Education schools are competing. All but four of the schools that participate in “Confro”, as it’s known, are Catholic schools from as far west as Mount Isa and Roma, south to the Gold Coast and north to Cairns.
Organised by Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Rugby League, Confraternity Carnival began in 1980 with six Catholic schools playing against each other in the school holidays.
“We come here not just united through the game of rugby league but united in something deeper,” QISSRL president and Padua College principal Peter Elmore said.
“We are joined by a common connection around our Christian faith and what it means to be a person who displays these qualities on and off the sporting field through what we affectionately call the ‘spirit of Confraternity’.”
For the first time, the carnival began with a clash between hosts St Laurence’s College, South Brisbane, and Villanova College, Coorparoo at Suncorp Stadium as a curtain-raiser to the NRL clash between Brisbane and Gold Coast last weekend.
The carnival continues to draw in former high-profile players in coaching roles including some who now teach in their schools.
These coaches include former NRL players Matt Geyer (Marymount College, Burleigh Waters) and his 1999 Melbourne Storm premiership teammate Tony Martin (The Cathedral College, Rockhampton), Chris McKenna (Iona College), Antonio Kaufusi (Shalom College girls), Scott Minto (St Brendan’s), David Shillington (Villanova College) and Ryley Jacks (St Laurence’s College) in the boys’ competition.
Chris Leadbetter, principal of the host school, said: “St Laurence’s College is proud to host Confraternity Carnival for the first time. The carnival brings together people and builds teamwork, resilience, integrity and community spirit. These experiences will be memorable for all players and we hope they will look back fondly on this week in the years to come.”
The boys’ grand finals will be held on Friday 30 June. All games will be livestreamed here.