Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), is the governing body of rugby union in Asia under the authority of

World Rugby 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 rug ...

. Founded in 1968 by eight charter nations, the Union today has 36 member unions in countries across Asia, stretching from Kazakhstan to Guam. 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".

Members

Asia Rugby has 36 member unions. Not all member unions are members of

. 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 19 World Rugby members, and 9 World Rugby associates: There are 9 members not affiliated with World Rugby Other unions not affiliated with Asia Rugby Several rugby governing bodies for countries in Asia (partially, largely or entirely) – such as , , , , and – are members of the European body,

Rugby Europe Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby (the sport's global governing body). However, it ...

. Conversely, , 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 Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

(the organized

unincorporated territory Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government of the United States. The various American territories differ from the U.S. states and tribal reservations as they are not sove ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

), which is arguably not in Asia, but in Oceania, and one transcontinental country,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. A former member, the

Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) was the governing body for rugby union that represented the Gulf Cooperation Council states until the end of 2010. As well as organising local and regional competitions in United Arab Emirates, UAE, B ...

, represented

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

until it was dissolved at the end of 2010 to allow separate national unions administer the game in each country. The new governing body for the UAE became the 100th full member of World Rugby in November 2012. In 2020, Qatar became an associate member of World Rugby and Saudi Arabia became an associate member of Asia Rugby. The other three countries do not yet have a national governing body affiliated with Asia Rugby. Notes

* Denotes World Rugby associate membership date. Cambodia regained associate membership of Asia Rugby in 2020, after being suspended in 2016 for not complying with membership criteria. Vietnam is not currently a member of Asia Rugby.

Competitions

Asia Rugby supports regional and pan-Asian tournaments for men's and women's teams in fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby, including: Men *

Asia Rugby Championship The Asia Rugby Championship, or ARC, is an annual rugby union competition held amongst national rugby sides within the Asia Rugby region. The competition was originally known as the Asian Rugby Football Tournament when founded in 1969, and was call ...

Asia Rugby Sevens Series The Asia Rugby Sevens Series is an annual series of regional rugby sevens tournaments run by Asia Rugby featuring national sevens teams. It has been held regularly since 2009 to determine Asia's best men's national team in the sport of rugby seve ...

Asia Rugby U19 Championship The Under-19 Asia Rugby Championship is an annual rugby union championship for Under-19 national teams, held since 2005. The championship is organised by rugby's Asian governing body, the Asia Rugby. The tournament serves as Asia's qualification ...

Women *

Asia Rugby Women's Championship The Asia Rugby Championship for women's national fifteen-a-side teams is a rugby union tournament that has been contested since 2006. Organised by Asia Rugby, there are currently two competition divisions. The championship is also the continental ...

Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series The Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series is the regional championship for women's international rugby sevens in Asia. Initially contested as a single tournament, the championship was expanded into a two-tournament series in 2014. The competition is sa ...

Sevens Series

The Asian Sevens Series is similar to the HSBC World Sevens Series, but at a regional level.Promising start for Asian Sevens Series
. UR7s.

World Rugby Rankings

Organisation structure

The member unions form the Council which is Asia Rugby’s ultimate decision-making body. The Council meets twice a year, including for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the end of each year where the 12-person executive committee (Exco) is elected. , the president of Asia Rugby is Qais Al-Dhalai of the United Arab Emirates. Management and staff of Asia Rugby, headed by CEO Johny Stavrinou and General Manager Ross Mitchell, are based at Olympic House,

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

in Hong Kong. Also, Asia Rugby has contracted with a number of Officers in Asia for Development.

References

External links

Official website
{{Asia in topic, Rugby union in Sports organizations established in 1968