Asia Rugby

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.

Asia Rugby
Formation1968
TypeSports federation
HeadquartersHong Kong
Membership
31 unions
President
Qais Al-Dhalai
CEO
Johny Stavrinou
Websiteasiarugby.com

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 31 member unions.[1][2] Not all member unions are members of World Rugby.[3] Asia Rugby members are listed below, with the year each union joined World Rugby shown in brackets. World Rugby associates are shown in italics.[4]

There are 17 World Rugby members, and 5 World Rugby associates:

There are 9 members not affiliated with World Rugby

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

Other unions not affiliated with Asia Rugby

Notes

 * Denotes World Rugby associate membership date.

 ^† Cambodia expelled in 2016 for not complying with membership criteria.[1]

 ^‡ Vietnam is not currently a member of Asia Rugby.[2]

A former member, 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.[5] 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, Russia and Turkey are members of the European body, Rugby Europe. 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.

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

Women

Sevens Series

The Asian Sevens Series is similar to the HSBC World Sevens Series, but at a regional level.[6][7][8]

Rankings

Continental rankings for women's and men's fifteen-a-side rugby:

Asia Rugby Rankings
Top 15 Rankings as of 9 March 2020[9]
RankChange*TeamPointsWR
1  Japan79.289
2  Hong Kong61.2322
3  South Korea53.1131
4  Philippines47.7741
5  Sri Lanka46.6947
6  Malaysia46.1249
7  Singapore43.9755
8  United Arab Emirates41.2561
9  Kazakhstan40.8562
10  Chinese Taipei39.1065
11  Guam36.4074
12  Thailand36.2376
13  China34.8580
14  India33.0784
15  Uzbekistan31.6389
*Based on the World Rugby Ranking
Asia Rugby Women's Rankings
Top 9 Rankings as of 9 March 2020[10]
RankChange*TeamPointsWR
1  Japan65.8012
2  Kazakhstan60.4515
3  Hong Kong57.8919
4  China49.3424
5  Singapore40.0632
6  India37.6041
7  Thailand36.3544
8  Uzbekistan35.4046
9  Philippines33.1651
*Based on the World Rugby Rankings

Organisation structure
Executive Committee
Qais Al-Dhalai (UAE)
President
Fawzi Khawaja (PAK)
Vice President
Vela Tan (MAS)
Vice President
Mike Haynes (HKG)
Hon Treasurer
Ada Milby (PHI)
World Rugby Council Member
Terence Khoo (SGP)
World Rugby Council Member
Natapol Hemyoo (THA)
Committee Member
Makoto Nishiki (JPN)
Committee Member
Kakhramon Djalilov (UZB)
Committee Member
Herman Huang (TPE)
Committee Member
Gondo Radityo Gambiro (IDN)
Committee Member
Tanka Lal Ghising (NEP)
Committee Member
Updated: 26 March 2020[11]

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.[12]

As of 2020, the president of Asia Rugby is Qais Al-Dhalai of the United Arab Emirates.[11]

Management and staff of Asia Rugby, headed by CEO Johny Stavrinou and General Manager Ross Mitchell, are based at Olympic House, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong.[13]

See also

References
  1. "Guatemala Obtain World Rugby Membership". americas Rugby News. 14 May 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  2. "Unions". Asia Rugby. 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  3. "Handbook" (PDF). World Rugby. 2014. pp. 16–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  4. http://www.asiarugby.com/about-asia-rugby/membership
  5. "UAE become 100th full member of the IRB". RTÉ. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  6. Rugby and the Olympics Archived September 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. IRB
  7. Asian 7s Series. ARFU.
  8. Promising start for Asian Sevens Series Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. UR7s.
  9. "World Rugby Rankings". Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  10. "Women's World Rankings". Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  11. "Asia Rugby votes in new EXCO". Rugby Asia 24/7. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020.
  12. "Council & Executive Committee". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  13. "Contact us". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
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