The Philadelphia Catholic League is a high school sports league composed (as of the 2012-13 year) of 18 Catholic High Schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding Pennsylvania suburbs. The league itself was founded in the summer of 1920 on the steps of Villanova academy (now Alumni Hall on Villanova University's campus) by an Augustinian monk, who would later be known as Monsignor Bonner. The league originally consisted of three sports, one per season: Football in the fall, Basketball in the winter and Baseball in the spring. This was expanded in 1944 to include Cross-country in the fall, Wrestling in the winter, and Track in the spring.
Currently, the schools are divided by size (Red/Large, Blue/Small). In football, the blue and red divisions award separate league championships each year, while all other sports have a unified champion. Starting with the 2008-09 school year, the Catholic League joined the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association in District XII, competing with Philadelphia Public League teams for a restored City Championship in all sports, which was abandoned following the 1979-80 school year due to a dispute of Title IX as girls from both Public and Catholic high schools were prohibited from competing for City Championships. The football divisions were realigned into Blue AA, Blue AAA, and Red (AAAA) Following the closures of Northeast Catholic High School and Cardinal Dougherty High School, along with the merger of Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic High School into Pope John Paul II High School, along with their decision to join the Pioneer Athletic Conference in Montgomery County, the divisions underwent a realignment in 2010.
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