The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end of the club rugby season.

[6] On 24 June 1874, a meeting was held between ten prominent football clubs to create a governing body to administer the game within New South Wales.

Foundation clubs included Redfern, Sydney University, Wallaroo, Newtown, Burwood, Oriental, Glebe, Balmain, St. Leonards, Parramatta, Arfoma and Paddington.

[6] At the beginning of the season, a proposal was put to the Southern Rugby Union to change the rules determining how a game was decided.

The amendment that was successfully passed by the Union declared that games would be decided by number of points scored.

[10] Within a few years of the Gardiner Cup beginning, the Premiership had developed to become a more structured competition with a centralised list of fixtures and rounds.

In early 1900, a meeting of the Metropolitan Rugby Union was held and a recommendation to establish district football in the coming season was made.

Over the next few years, players switched across to the professional competition resulting in crowd numbers falling at Union matches.

Despite this, the district competition continued to run, rebuilding its supporter base, until the outbreak of World War 1 with the last season held during 1914.

With the competition returning under the control of the NSW Rugby Football Union, only six clubs competed: Cambridge, Eastern Suburbs, Glebe-Balmain, Manly, Sydney University and YMCA.

Of Shute's death from a fractured skull and cerebral haemorrhage, the Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 7 June 1922[15] reported: As a result of injuries received while playing at Manly in the Rugby football match between the team which toured New Zealand and the Next 15, Robert Elliott Shute, a front row forward in the latter team, died at a private hospital at Manly yesterday morning.

He served in the AIF for four years.The University club had the shield made following his death and donated it in 1923 to the NSWRFU to be used as a perpetual trophy for the Sydney first grade competition.

In late 1986, the Sydney Rugby Union (SRU) approved a new competition structure for the Shute Shield.

The clubs that made up first division were opposed to the new structure and sought the opportunity to form a breakaway competition affiliated directly with the NSWRFU.

The ABC ended its 57-year partnership with the competition at the completion of the 2014 season, following the Australian Government's decision to cut funding to the national broadcaster.

On November 9, 2020, Nine Network confirmed their broadcast deal with Rugby Australia, giving them the rights to the Shute Shield.

Arthur Roden Cutler (1916-2002) was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in Syria in 1941 during WWII, knighted in 1965 after many diplomatic postings and is the longest-serving governor in the history of NSW.

The Shield was initially held by Eastwood (1999 premiers) and is defended at each home game by the current holder n.b.