The competition has been contested continuously since its inception in 1910 and, in that time, fourteen different schools have secured at least a shared win of the shield.
Henry McIntosh, the Headmaster of Methodist College and respected rugby coach, was the main driving force behind the idea.
[citation needed] In 1910 Methodist College and Royal Belfast Academical Institution proceeded with the competition and for the first five years only these two schools competed.
One future international appeared in the first ever final in 1910 with James B O'Neill a member of the victorious Methodist College team.
[7] Further examples of future international players include: Until 2004 the Medallion Shield was competed for through an open draw, and since then a seeding system has been employed to determine the point at which a school enters the competition.
The structure since the 2009–10 season is as follows: (Table incomplete; two finalists missing - 1934, 1937) † denotes a shared win ‡ Annadale Grammar School became Wellington College in a merger in 1990.