Formation 1968 Headquarters Hong Kong General Manager Ross Mitchell | Type Sports federation Membership 31 unions Website asiarugby.com | |
Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), is the governing body of rugby union in Asia under the authority of World Rugby. Founded in 1968 by eight charter nations, the Union today has 31 member unions in countries across Asia, stretching from Kazakhstan to Guam.
Contents
The aim of Asia Rugby is: "to raise physical and moral standards in Asia by education in the healthy pursuit of Rugby Football and to promote friendship among Asian countries."
Competitions
Asia Rugby supports regional and pan-Asian tournaments for men's, women's and under 19's competitions in fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby, including:
Asian Sevens Series
The Asian Sevens Series is like the HSBC World Sevens Series, but at a regional level.
Members
After the expulsion of Cambodia as of May 2016, Asia Rugby has 31 member unions. Not all member unions are members of World Rugby. Asia Rugby members are listed below, with the year each union joined World Rugby shown in brackets. World Rugby associates are shown in italics.
There are 17 World Rugby members, and 5 World Rugby associates:
There are 9 unions not affiliated with World Rugby
Notes:
The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union was split up in 2011. It comprised the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman. The new governing body for the UAE is already active and has its own national team. UAE became the 100th full member of World Rugby in November 2012. The other countries have not yet joined the ARFU.
Several governing bodies which administer partially, or largely Asian countries, such as that of Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel and Russia are members of the European body, Rugby Europe. Moreover, the recently formed Turkish Rugby Federation is expected to join Europe as well. Conversely, Kazakhstan, which is administered by European associations in other sports (such as within the football governing body, FIFA) is administered as part of Asia Rugby. In addition, Asia Rugby includes Guam (the organized unincorporated territory of the United States), which is arguably not in Asia, but in Oceania, and one transcontinental country, Indonesia.