The American Samoa Rugby Union, or ASRU, is the governing body for

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...

. It was established in 1990, and became fully affiliated to the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

(IRB) in 2012. The ASRU is also a full member of the

Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions Oceania Rugby, previously known as the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU), is the regional governing body for rugby union in Oceania. It was founded in 2000 to represent the interests of Oceania rugby within World Rugby, the international go ...

(FORU), which is the regional governing body for

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

. It was chaired by Republican politician Te'o J. Fuavai for several decades.

History

Rugby union has been played in American Samoa since the 1920s, but no governing body existed for the sport for more than 60 years thereafter. When

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

was introduced to high schools in the 1970s it became the dominant game, while rugby union was only played in village competitions. The ASRU was formally incorporated in 1990, but it took more than 20 years before the union applied for full membership of the IRB in 2011. The Executive Council of the IRB granted American Samoa full membership in 2012. As of 2015 American Samoa's Rugby team has been ranked 102nd best team in the world, therefore making it the worst team in the world.

National teams

American Samoa's national team, known as the Talavalu, has not competed in a

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

but has competed at the

South Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently in 2019 in Apia, Samoa. The Games wer ...

, including winning a silver medal for rugby 15s in 1991. American Samoa fields teams in 7s competitions as well as 15s.

External links

American Samoa
on IRB.com

on OceaniaRugby.com

Reference list

{{World Rugby Rugby union in American Samoa Rugby union governing bodies in Oceania Sports organizations established in 1990 National members of World Rugby Organizations based in American Samoa 1990 establishments in American Samoa

History

National teams

See also

External links

Reference list