Union High School is proud to announce that its much-loved annual Senior Rugby and Hockey Festival will, from 2026 onward, be known as the ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐น๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฅ๐๐ด๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น, in honour of one of Unionโs greatest stalwarts, Mr Rory Sullivan.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต, ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ค๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
The festivalโs roots stretch back to 1987 when Mr Sullivan, alongside colleague Gail McArthur, hosted Unionโs inaugural sporting festival on its campus. What began as a modest gathering has, over nearly four decades, grown into one of the most anticipated events on the school calendar – ๐ข 3-๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐ฃ๐บ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ.
With the exception of 2020 and 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic brought play to a temporary standstill, the festival has been held faithfully every year. In 2026, Union will celebrate the 37th instalment of this special event – ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐น๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
Not many people in life truly shape who we are. But over a career spanning several decades, ๐ ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐น๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฒ, ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ด ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐.
After matriculating from Union High School in 1969, Mr Sullivan embarked on a teaching career that took him to Grey Junior and Victoria West High School before bringing him home to Union in 1980. His return marked the beginning of a long and influential association with the school – not only as an educator, but also as Superintendent of Barnard House, a mentor, a coach and a figure of profound influence.
๐๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ 1989, ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ 1996.
๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐บ, ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐: ๐ฟ๐๐ด๐ฏ๐. While Mr Sullivan excelled in coaching various sporting codes, rugby is where he shone brightest. His passion for the game is unmistakable – almost tangible – and his encyclopaedic recall of matches, players, scores, tries, highs and lows continues to delight and astonish those around him. ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด.
Although Mr Sullivan officially retired from teaching in 2019 and later from Herby Arnott House – where he and his wife, Martie, served faithfully until mid-2023 – his presence remains a cherished part of school life.
With three rugby-playing grandchildren walking the Union grounds (Jordan in Grade 8, Michael in Grade 5 and Levi joining Grade 1 next year), ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฒ, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐ป ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ – it is a celebration of a lifetime dedicated to Union. It recognises his unwavering commitment, his infectious love for sport and the immeasurable impact he has made on the lives of learners, colleagues and the wider Union community.
As Union looks ahead to the 2026 festival, it does so with immense pride, gratitude and excitement – knowing that the event will forever carry the name of a man whose passion helped define it.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐น๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฅ๐๐ด๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น – ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ.