Asia Rugby
Formation | 1968 |
---|---|
Type | Sports federation |
Headquarters | Hong Kong |
Membership | 31 unions |
President | Qais Al-Dhalai |
CEO | Johny Stavrinou |
Website | asiarugby |
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.
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 18 World Rugby members, and 8 World Rugby associates:
- Brunei (2013*)
- China (1997)
- Chinese Taipei (1988)
- (1998)
- Hong Kong (1988)
- India (1999)
- (2013)
- Iran (2010)
- Japan (1987)
- Jordan (2020*)
- Kazakhstan (1997)
- Korea (1988)
- (2004*)
- Lao (2004*)
- (2018*)
- Malaysia (1988)
- (2004*)
- (2020*)
- Pakistan (2008)
- Philippines (2008)
- (2020*)
- Singapore (1989)
- Sri Lanka (1988)
- Thailand (1989)
- United Arab Emirates (2012)
- (2014)
There are 5 members not affiliated with World Rugby
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]
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:
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] | ||||
Rank | Change* | Team | Points | WR |
1 | Japan | 79.28 | 9 | |
2 | Hong Kong | 61.23 | 22 | |
3 | South Korea | 53.11 | 31 | |
4 | Philippines | 47.77 | 41 | |
5 | Sri Lanka | 46.69 | 47 | |
6 | Malaysia | 46.12 | 49 | |
7 | Singapore | 43.97 | 55 | |
8 | United Arab Emirates | 41.25 | 61 | |
9 | Kazakhstan | 40.85 | 62 | |
10 | Chinese Taipei | 39.10 | 65 | |
11 | Guam | 36.40 | 74 | |
12 | Thailand | 36.23 | 76 | |
13 | China | 34.85 | 80 | |
14 | India | 33.07 | 84 | |
15 | Uzbekistan | 31.63 | 89 | |
*Based on the World Rugby Ranking |
Asia Rugby Women's Rankings | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Top 9 Rankings as of 9 March 2020[10] | ||||
Rank | Change* | Team | Points | WR |
1 | Japan | 65.80 | 12 | |
2 | Kazakhstan | 60.45 | 15 | |
3 | Hong Kong | 57.89 | 19 | |
4 | China | 49.34 | 24 | |
5 | Singapore | 40.06 | 32 | |
6 | 37.60 | 41 | ||
7 | Thailand | 36.35 | 44 | |
8 | Uzbekistan | 35.40 | 46 | |
9 | Philippines | 33.16 | 51 | |
*Based on the World Rugby Rankings |
Organisation structure[]
Updated: 26 March 2020[11] | |||||||||||||
Executive Committee | |||||||||||||
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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]
Also, Asia Rugby has contracted with a number of Officers in Asia for Development.
NAME | POSITION |
---|---|
Johny Stavrinou | CEO |
Affan Jahangir | Accountant And Admin Officer |
Gene Tong | Regional Training Consultant |
Ben Van Rooyen | Rugby Development Consultant |
Khuram Haroon | Digital Media Consultant |
Ghaith Jalajel | Competitions & West Asia Development Consultant |
George Danapal | Match Official Development Consultant |
Anatoliy Shirov | Central Asia Development Consultant |
Mahfizul Islam | South Asia Development Consultant |
Medcom | Medical Coordinator |
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Guatemala Obtain World Rugby Membership". americas Rugby News. 14 May 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Unions". Asia Rugby. 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
- ^ "Handbook" (PDF). World Rugby. 2014. pp. 16–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ^ http://www.asiarugby.com/about-asia-rugby/membership
- ^ "UAE become 100th full member of the IRB". RTÉ. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
- ^ Rugby and the Olympics Archived September 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. IRB
- ^ Asian 7s Series[permanent dead link]. ARFU.
- ^ Promising start for Asian Sevens Series Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. UR7s.
- ^ "World Rugby Rankings". Retrieved 2 May 2020.
- ^ "Women's World Rankings". Retrieved 2 May 2020.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Asia Rugby votes in new EXCO". Rugby Asia 24/7. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Council & Executive Committee". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Contact us". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
External links[]
- Rugby union governing bodies in Asia
- Sports organizations established in 1968