Asia Rugby

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Asia Rugby
Asian Rugby Football Union (logo).png
Formation 1968
Type Sports federation
Headquarters Hong Kong
Membership
31 unions[1]
President
Adisak Hemyoo
Website asiarugby.com

Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union, 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 29 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."

Competitions[edit]

The 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[edit]

The Asian Sevens Series is like the HSBC Sevens World Series, but at a regional level.[2][3][4]

Members[edit]

ARFU(Asia) Rankings
Top 15 Rankings as of 11 May 2015[5]
Rank Change* Team Points WR
1 Steady  Japan 74.70 11
2 Steady  South Korea 58.38 22
3 Steady  Hong Kong 54.64 29
4 Increase  Sri Lanka 49.79 38
5 Decrease  Kazakhstan 48.14 42
6 Steady  Philippines 45.12 51
7 Increase  Malaysia 43.33 57
8 Decrease  Singapore 42.92 59
9 Decrease  Chinese Taipei 41.51 62
10 Steady  China 41.47 63
11 Increase  India 39.07 69
12 Decrease  Thailand 38.35 72
13 Decrease  Pakistan 36.74 78
14 Increase  United Arab Emirates 33.00 87
15 Decrease  Indonesia 30.00 91
*Based on the IRB World Ranking

As of February 2015, Asia Rugby has 31 member unions.[1] Not all member unions are members of World Rugby.[6] The AFRU's 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 6 World Rugby associates:

There are 9 members not affiliated with World Rugby

  • Afghanistan Afghanistan
  • Bangladesh Bangladesh
  • Jordan Jordan
  • Lebanon Lebanon
  • Macau Macau
  • Nepal Nepal
  • Qatar Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
  • Syria Syria

Notes:

 * Denotes World Rugby associate membership date.


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.[7] 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 the ARFU. In addition, the ARFU includes Guam (the organized unincorporated territory of the United States), which is arguably not in Asia, but in Oceania, and one transcontinental country, Indonesia.

Asia Rugby officers[edit]

  • President: Adisak Hemyoo,  Thailand
  • Vice President:
  • Honorary Secretary General: Ross Mitchell,  Hong Kong
  • Treasurer: Dermot Agnew,  Hong Kong
  • World Rugby Representative: Jamie Scott
  • Executive Committee:

(Officers are ex officio members of the EXCO)

(Jarrad Gallagher, World Rugby Development Officer for Asia)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Unions ARFU, 2015.
  2. ^ Rugby and the Olympics. IRB
  3. ^ Asian 7s Series. ARFU.
  4. ^ Promising start for Asian Sevens Series. UR7s.
  5. ^ "World Rugby Rankings". Retrieved 11 May 2015. 
  6. ^ "Handbook" (PDF). World Rugby. 2014. pp. 16–10. Retrieved 28 January 2015. 
  7. ^ "UAE become 100th full member of the IRB". RTE. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012. 

External links[edit]