Duntroon won the inaugural John I Dent Cup in the premier rugby division in Canberra in 1938, but the college has not entered a team in any grade in rugby union, Australian rules and soccer this season.

The military blamed the decision on injuries to cadets, penalties imposed for forfeits caused by training commitments and the introduction of the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Duntroon teams struggled to field teams last year on a week-to-week basis and were forced to forfeit a number of games.

The Canberra Times can reveal that Capital Football fined Duntroon at the end of the 2007 season for forfeiting rescheduled soccer matches.

After the 2007 local rugby union season, college officials approached Brumbies Rugby and indicated they would not field a team this year.

Similarly, they told AFL Canberra officials they would not have a team in the Division 4 league.

Capital Football men's league manager Ross Jones said his organisation had allowed the academy and Duntroon to play "catch-up" matches on week nights for the past 10 years.

"ADFA and RMC go away for blocks of training throughout the year," he said.

"So we organised for the matches to be played on week nights.

"But halfway through the year, we were informed the RMC program had changed.

"They were now going away on random dates and missing mid-week matches."

Because the Duntroon team forfeited matches, they incurred a series of fines for each match that was missed.

Capital Football then informed the cadet soccer players that if they were not able to comply with a similar system to the academy, their application for 2008 would probably be rejected.

"It was putting strain on us and other clubs," Mr Jones said.

"Other players were getting disgruntled that they were forced to turn up after work on a Canberra winter night and there was no one to play against."

When asked about the decision to pull out the teams, a Defence spokesman pointed to the introduction of the academy and the reduction in time officer cadets spent at the college.

"The RMC course is only 18 months long and cadets spend a considerable period in the field for operational training requirements," he said.

"This meant that in both competitions cadets were unable to play all games, often had their preparations hampered and were penalised points for forfeiting, thereby failing to make the semi-finals.

"Cadets were also sustaining injuries in the civilian competitions that were having an impact on their training requirements."

The spokesman said the college would remain "engaged with ACT Rugby and participate in and host veterans games and play curtain-raisers at Canberra Stadium".

Some cadets would be allowed to play for the academy, whose teams will continue to compete in civilian competitions, and all could play at the college.

"RMC now has an intercompany and intervarsity competition for 12 sports where every cadet plays and receives a coaching and strapping qualification," the spokesman said.

"RMC now has all cadets participating in sport, have reduced sport injuries and provide qualifications to the cadets."

None of the three football codes ruled out an RMC return in 2009, saying the door is open for the club to be reinstated.

Brumbies community rugby manager Bill Milward said it was terrible to see a team with such a long and decorated history leave the competition. "Hopefully we will be able to get them to return," he said. "The door is always open there and we will approach them at the end of the season and see if they would like to re-enter the competition."