The Associated Independent Colleges, or AIC, is a group of independent secondary schools in south-east Queensland, Australia. With the exception of St Peters Lutheran College, AIC schools are all-boys schools (St Peter's secondary girls compete in the Queensland Girls' Secondary Schools Sports Association).
The AIC was founded in 1998 as an athletic association for male secondary students. All eight colleges were formerly members of The Associated Schools (TAS), founded in 1956. Some colleges were originally members of the Metropolitan Catholic Schools Association (MCSA), founded in 1934. The most prominent sports contested include rugby union, cricket and football, as well as swimming and track and field.
History
The Associated Independent Colleges was formed in 1998 with the first year of competition being 1999. All AIC members were previously in The Associated Schools (TAS). The TAS had expanded to include fifteen schools by the mid 1990s and the standard of competition was falling. The colleges with the strongest athletic programs in the TAS competition's top division moved to form the AIC.
After the AIC was founded, only one all-boys school remained in TAS, the now defunct Marist Brothers College Rosalie. In protest of the departure of the eight AIC schools from TAS competition, all TAS schools with a primary school attached withdrew from the Combined Independent Colleges (CIC) association for private primary schools in 1998. Six of the Associated Independent Colleges were foundation members of the CIC.
The Combined Independent Colleges association was dissolved in 2013. Primary schools attached to AIC schools had previously competed against their Great Public Schools (GPS) counterparts within the CIC, but the headmasters of the GPS and AIC associations expanded their respective competitions in 2014 to include primary students from grades 5–7.
Schools
Starting in 2022, Ambrose Treacy College, Indooroopilly was invited to become a guest member for a two-year time span.
Sports
There are currently ten sports officially contested within the AIC:
Athletics (track and field) Basketball Cricket Chess Cross country running
Football (soccer) Rugby union Swimming Tennis Volleyball
Four other sports are also offered:
Australian rules football
Golf
Rugby league
Water polo
Water polo is played as a social competition in Term 4. An invitational golf day is also held in Term 4, with the annual Gordon Balharry Shield awarded to the AIC school with the best team score on an adjusted handicap basis. Rugby league and Australian rules football competitions were introduced on a two-year opt-in trial basis for 2019.
Ashgrove, Iona and St Laurence's have traditionally been prominent in the rugby competitions, although Padua has enjoyed recent success. St Peters, Villanova and Padua have tended to field strong soccer teams. St Patrick's has had success in cross country and Ashgrove and Iona have won the most titles in athletics and swimming.
The sporting calendar for the AIC is split into terms:
1st: Australian football Cricket Volleyball Swimming
2nd: Chess Football Rugby union
3rd: Basketball Cross country Rugby league Tennis
4th: Athletics Golf Water polo
The championships for swimming, cross country, track and field athletics and golf are held on a single day. The other sports are played in a round-robin format (no finals) with each school playing all others once. Premierships in each grade, for age divisions from under 13 to open, are won by the teams with most points over the season. The premierships for the schools' first teams in each sport, particularly the First XV rugby, tend to attract the most interest.
Championships
Athletics (track and field) Winning teams on aggregate points for all age groups:
Championships – Ashgrove (12), Iona (9), St Edmund's (3).
Cross Country
Winning teams on aggregate points for all age groups:
Championships – Ashgrove (12), Iona (8), St Patrick's (5), St Laurence's (2).
indicates shared championship.
Swimming
Winning teams on aggregate points for all age groups:
Championships – Ashgrove (13), St Peters (10), Iona (2).
indicates shared championship.
Premierships
First XV Rugby
List of First XV premiers and runners-up:
Premierships - Ashgrove (14), St Laurence's (6), Iona (4), Padua (3), St Peters (2), St Edmund's (2), St Patrick's (1), Villanova (1).
Notes: * indicates undefeated season. indicates shared premiership for the year.
First XI Cricket
List of First XI premiers and runners-up: