Timeline of foundation of national rugby unions

Updated on Oct 22, 2023

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This timeline lists the foundation dates of the national governing bodies for rugby union—known as rugby unions or federations. The first union was the Rugby Football Union (RFU) that was founded in 1871 to govern rugby union within England. It was founded following the first ever rugby union international, played between England and Scotland in 1871. The Scottish Football Union (later renamed the Scottish Rugby Union) was then founded in 1873, the Irish Rugby Football Union in 1879 and the Welsh Rugby Union in 1881.

Timeline

1871 (English) Rugby Football Union (RFU)

1873 Scottish Rugby Union (as Scottish Football Union until 1924)

1879 Irish Rugby Football Union (a merger of two Irish unions both formed in 1874)

1881 Welsh Rugby Union

1889 South African Rugby Board (merged with South African Rugby Union in 1992 to form South African Rugby Football Union; merged body renamed South African Rugby Union in 2005)

1892 New Zealand Rugby Union (founded as New Zealand Rugby Football Union)

1895 Rhodesia Rugby Football Union (Zimbabwe RU after 1980)

1899 Argentine Rugby Union

1900 German Rugby Federation

1908 Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (as Ceylon Rugby Football Union)

1913 Fiji Rugby Union (founded as Fiji Rugby Football Union)

1916 Royal Moroccan Rugby Federation

1919 French Rugby Federation

1920 Guyana Rugby Football Union

1921 Malaysian Rugby Union (As Malaya Rugby Union)

1922 Catalan Rugby Federation

1923 Spanish Rugby Federation

1923 Tonga Rugby Football Union

1923 Samoa Rugby Football Union

1923 Kenya Rugby Football Union (as Rugby Football Union of Kenya)

1926 Japan Rugby Football Union

1926 Portuguese Rugby Federation

1926 Czech Rugby Union (as Czechoslovakia)

1928 Italian Rugby Federation

1928 Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Football Union

1931 Romanian Rugby Federation

1932 Dutch Rugby Union

1932 Swedish Rugby Union

1934 Hellenic Rugby Federation

1935 Belgian Rugby Federation

1935 Chilean Rugby Federation (as Rugby Union of Chile)

1936 Rugby Union of Russia (founded as, and successor of, Rugby Union of the Soviet Union)

1937 Thai Rugby Union

1946 Korean Rugby Union

1946 Chinese Taipei Rugby Union

1948 Singapore Rugby Union

1949 Australian Rugby Union

1950 Danish Rugby Union

1951 Uruguayan Rugby Union

1952 Niue Rugby Football Union

1953 Hong Kong Rugby Football Union

1953 Rugby Football Union of East Africa (umbrella organization that includes Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda)

1954 Rugby Union of Serbia (as Yugoslavia)

1956 Royal Moroccan Rugby Federation

1957 Polish Rugby Union

1958 Jamaica Rugby Football Union

1959 Uganda Rugby Union (as URFU)

1960 Senegalese Rugby Federation

1960 British Virgin Islands Rugby Football Union

1960 Latvian Rugby Federation (as regional body of USSR)

1961 Côte d'Ivoire Rugby Federation

1961 Lithuanian Rugby Federation (as regional body under USSR - full nation body in 1990s)

1962 Bulgarian Rugby Federation

1962 Croatian Rugby Federation (as part of Yugoslavia)

1963 Madagascan Rugby Federation

1963 Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation

1963 Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union

1963 Brazilian Rugby Confederation (as Rugby Union of Brazil)

1964 Georgia Rugby Union (as regional body under USSR - full nation body in 1990s)

1964 Barbados Rugby Football Union

1964 Bermuda Rugby Football Union

1964 Norwegian Rugby Union

1965 Rugby Canada (founded as Canadian Rugby Union)

1967 Martinique Rugby Committee (territorial committee of French Rugby Federation)

1968 Indian Rugby Football Union

1968 Finnish Rugby Federation

1970 Paraguayan Rugby Union

1971 Cayman Rugby Football Union

1971 Israel Rugby Union

1972 Swiss Rugby Federation

1972 Tunisian Rugby Federation

1973 Mexican Rugby Federation

1973 Bahamas Rugby Football Union

1974 Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (founded as Gulf Rugby Football Union) — then an overseas member of the Rugby Football Union; became independent in 1990. Officially disbanded in 2011; to be replaced with separate national unions in each of its former member countries. The new United Arab Emirates union was founded shortly before the AGRFU dissolution.

1974 Luxembourg Rugby Federation

1974 Saint Lucia Rugby Football Union

1975 USA Rugby (founded as United States of America Rugby Football Union)

1975 Zambia Rugby Football Union

1979 Kazakhstan Rugby Union (as regional association of USSR - full national body in 1994)

1977 Brunei Rugby Football Union

1980 Vanuatu Rugby Football Union

1986 Andorran Rugby Federation

1989 Tahiti Rugby Union

1989 Cook Islands Rugby Union

1989 Rugby Association of Slovenia

1990 Namibia Rugby Union

1990 Hungarian Rugby Union

1990 Austrian Rugby Federation

1990 American Samoa Rugby Union

1991 Venezuelan Rugby Federation

1991 National Rugby Federation of Ukraine

1991 Malta Rugby Football Union

1992 Botswana Rugby Union

1992 Moldovan Rugby Federation

1992 Nepal Rugby Association

1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina Rugby Federation

1992 South African Rugby Union (founded as South Africa Rugby Football Union, a merger of the white South African Rugby Board and the non-racial South African Rugby Union; adopted current name in 2005)

1993 Rugby Union Mauritius

1995 Swaziland Rugby Union

1996 Monegasque Rugby Federation

1996 Chinese Rugby Football Association

1996 Macau Rugby Union

1997 Peruvian Rugby Federation

1997 Cameroonian Rugby Federation

1997 Guam Rugby Football Union

1998 Philippine Rugby Football Union

1998 Nigeria Rugby Football Federation

1998 Libyan Rugby Association

1998 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Rugby Union

2000 Pakistan Rugby Union

2001 Lao Rugby Federation

2001 Togolese Rugby Federation

2001 Burundian Rugby Federation

2001 Malian Rugby Federation

2001 Cambodian Federation of Rugby

2001 Turks and Caicos Islands Rugby Football Union

2003 Mongolian Rugby Football Union

2003 Rwandan Rugby Federation

2004 Azerbaijani Rugby Federation

2004 Uzbekistan Rugby Federation

2004 Dominican Rugby Federation

2004 Persatuan Rugby Union Indonesia

2004 Rugby Association of Panama

2004 Slovak Rugby Union

2005 Ghana Rugby Football Union

2005 Sammarinese Rugby Federation

2006 Cyprus Rugby Federation

2007 Jordan Rugby Union

2007 Estonian Rugby Union

2007 Guatemalan Rugby Association

2007 Tuvalu Rugby Union

2007 Algerian Rugby Federation

2008 Ecuadorian Rugby Federation

2008 Egyptian Rugby Football Union

2009 Turkey Rugby Federation

2009 Lebanese Rugby Union Federation

2009 UAE Rugby Federation

2009 Rugby Federation of Costa Rica

2010 Qatar Rugby Federation

2010 Rugby Iceland

2010 Afghanistan Rugby Federation

2010 Liechtenstein Rugby Union

2012 Federation of Lesotho Rugby

2012 Comorian Rugby Federation

2012 Syrian High Rugby Committee

2012 Rugby Belize

2013 Rugby Union of Belarus

2015 Haitian Rugby Federation

References

Timeline of foundation of national rugby unions Wikipedia

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