The Milo President's Trophy is an annual school knockout u/20 rugby tournament in Sri Lanka. The tournament was first staged in 1985 when it was known as the Premadasa Trophy, named after Ranasinghe Premadasa (the then Prime Minister). The tournament involves the top seven school teams in the Division 1A Group and the winner of the Division 1B Group. In 2007 the tournament was expanded to include the Premier Trophy and in 2008 the Chairman's Trophy, to provide more school teams with the opportunity to compete at the same level.
In 2009 it was renamed as the Milo Trophy after two years it returned to its original name as the Milo President's Trophy.
In 2010 the scheduled final was suspended at the last minute by the authorities due to a court order issued by Isipathana College. The two teams, St. Peter's College and Royal College, however still played albeit as a friendly encounter, with St Peter's College winning 29–27. After two years, the court case was dismissed and the two schools were jointly awarded the Trophy.
In 2015 it was contested by only six sides, Royal College (2015 league champions), Isipathana College (league runner-up), Trinity College (third seed), Science College (fourth seed), St. Peter's College (fifth seed) and D. S. Senanayake College, after injuries decimated the league's sixth-placed finisher St. Joseph's College, league plate champions Wesley College and plate runner-up St. Anthony's. The President's Trophy was won by Science College for the first time, who defeated Isipathana College 21–18 in the final. Lalith Athulathmudali College won the Premier Trophy defeating Mahanama College 17–14 and in the Chairman's Trophy, St. Thomas' College, Matale, defeated Carey College, Colombo 7–0 in the final.
The competition in 2016 was essentially only contested by seven teams, with defending champions Science College withdrawing from the tournament due to financial issues, Trinity College deciding not to participate and the 2015 league plate champions St. Joseph's College pulling out due to injuries. D. S. Senanayake College who finished fourth in the league plate and twelfth in the league were scheduled to play due to Trinity College's withdrawal, however, they opted not to compete claiming that they have not had enough time to prepare for the tournament. The final was scheduled to be played on 9 July at the Royal Sports Complex but Isipathana lodged a protest insisting that Royal College would have a home ground advantage. The final was then rescheduled to be played at the Colombo Racecourse on 16 July however Isipathana objected as it would interfere with preparations for the national under-18s tour of Hong Kong. Both sides subsequently agreed to play the final on 13 July, where Isipathana College regained the President's Trophy by defeating Royal College 47–12. Thurstan College collected the Premier Trophy by successfully defeating St. John's College, Nugegoda 15–5, and St. Thomas' College, Matale won the Chairman's Trophy by beating Vidyaloka Maha Vidyalaya, Galle, 57 to nil.
In 2017 the tournament was contested amongst seven schools being Dharmaraja College, Wesley College, St. Joseph's College, Trinity College, St. Peter's College, Isipathana College and St. Anthony's College. The school's league champions, Royal College, pulling out of the event due to injury concerns. The quarterfinals were held at Sugathadasa Stadium between 9 and 11 June 2017. The semi-finals were held on 17 and 18 June at the Colombo Racecourse and the finals were on the 24 June at the same venue. Playing in their first-ever major rugby final St. Joseph's College clinched their maiden Milo President's Trophy by beating Isipathana College by 19–13. The Milo Premier's Trophy was held on 23 June 2017 at Sugathadasa Stadium, where Maliyadeva College defeated Ananda College 22–20. The final for the Chairman's Trophy was held earlier the same day, with St. Anne's College, Kurunegala beating Carey College, Colombo 15–12.
Past winners Year WinnerScore Runner-upComments1985Isipathana College83Ananda College1986Isipathana College74Royal College1987Trinity College123Isipathana College1988Royal College133Isipathana College1989S. Thomas' College153Isipathana College1990S. Thomas' College411Isipathana CollegeThe trophy was awarded to STC after IC was found guilty of fielding an over-age player.1991S. Thomas' CollegeAnanda College1992Isipathana College98Ananda College1993Trinity CollegeIsipathana College1994S. Thomas' College86St. Peter's CollegeFinal edition of the Premadasa Trophy1995 St. Peter's College63Isipathana CollegePremadasa Trophy was changed to Milo Presidents Trophy Knockouts1996 Isipathana College157St. Peter's College1997 Isipathana College269Thurstan College1998 Thurstan College911 Zahira CollegeThe trophy was awarded to Thurstan after Zahira was found guilty of fielding an over-age player.1999 Isipathana College2710Ananda College2000 Kingswood College3026S. Thomas College2001 Isipathana College2017St. Peter's College2002 Royal College208Wesley College2003 Kingswood College2622S. Thomas' CollegeKingswood entered the President's Trophy as ‘B’ Division champions and defeat S. Thomas' College in the final.2004 Kingswood CollegeWesley College2005 Kingswood CollegeSt. Peter's College2006 St. Peter's College83Kingswood College2007 St. Peter's College2313Isipathana College2008 St. Peter's College1611Isipathana College2009 S. Thomas' College2219Isipathana College2010 St. Peter's College / Royal CollegeSt.Peter's beat Royal 29-27 in a friendly match due to court order. The trophy was jointly awarded to both schools later.2011 Trinity College2110Isipathana College2012 Isipathana College2116Trinity College2013 Wesley College3421Trinity College2014 Isipathana College27 22 Royal College2015Science College21 18 Isipathana College2016Isipathana College4712Royal College2017St. Josephs' College1913Isipathana College2018St. Peter's College22 20 St. Joseph's College2019St. Peter's College 18 15 Wesley College2022Isipathana College49 22 St. Joseph's College2023St. Peter's College25 16 Isipathana College2024Isipathana College34 29 St. Peter's College2025Isipathana College12 9 Trinity College2026Trinity College5826Royal College
Total wins Isipathana College are the most successful schools rugby team having won the knockout tournament a total of thirteen times, including three wins whilst it was still the Prime Minister's Trophy (1985–95) and have been the runner up twelve times. St. Peter's College has won the trophy eight times (1995, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 where it was joint champions with Royal College, 2018, 2019 and 2023) and have been runner up five times. S Thomas' College are the next most successful school having won the trophy five times (1989, 1990, 1991, 1994 and 2009). Kingswood College has won it four times in (2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005), with Royal College winning it three times (1988, 2002 and 2010 joint champions with St. Peter's College) along with Trinity College (1987, 1993 and 2011). Four teams have won it just once Thurstan College (1998), Wesley College (2013), Science College (2015) and St. Josephs' College (2017). Ananda College have been runners-up four times (1985, 1991, 1992 and 1999) but have yet to win the trophy.
School Wins Year Isipathana College 13 1985, 1986, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2022, 2024, 2025 St Peter's College 8 1995, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010‡, 2018, 2019,2023 S. Thomas' College 5 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 2009 Kingswood College 4 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 Trinity College 4 1987, 1993, 2011, 2026 Royal College 3 1988, 2002, 2010‡ Thurstan College 1 1998 Wesley College 1 2013 Science College 1 2015 St. Josephs' College 1 2017 ‡ Shared
References
https://www.thepapare.com/the-all-time-winners-of-the-presidents-trophy/