Before 2000 there were no quality competitions in England for 2nd XV teams. That was Alan Barnett's opinion anyway, so he started his own league for teams like London Kiwis, Rosslyn Park, Richmond and London Welsh who were eager to be founder member clubs. Sadly, London Kiwis is no more - but their spirit lives on.

The first phase of the development of the Shield was taken to its next stage when Alan joined with David Booth of Rosslyn Park to establish the competition in the South East and a little later the full expansion was complete when Steve Appleby of Basingstoke added his skills and talents. This is the triumvirate that calls itself the Shield Committee.

Barnett, Appleby and Booth knew that the Clubs who previously had relied on a variety of fixture committees to find games would quickly pick up a simply structured competition where the players' come first.This is the true spirit of rugby !