Asia Rugby

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Asia Rugby
Asian Rugby Football Union (logo).png
Formation1968
TypeSports federation
HeadquartersHong Kong
Membership
31 unions
President
Qais Al-Dhalai
CEO
Johny Stavrinou
Websiteasiarugby.com

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:

There are 5 members not affiliated with World Rugby

  • Afghanistan Afghanistan
  • Bangladesh Bangladesh
  • Macau Macau
  • Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
  • Syria 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]
Rank Change* Team Points WR
1 Steady  Japan 79.28 9
2 Decrease  Hong Kong 61.23 22
3 Steady  South Korea 53.11 31
4 Steady  Philippines 47.77 41
5 Steady  Sri Lanka 46.69 47
6 Steady  Malaysia 46.12 49
7 Steady  Singapore 43.97 55
8 Steady  United Arab Emirates 41.25 61
9 Steady  Kazakhstan 40.85 62
10 Steady  Chinese Taipei 39.10 65
11 Steady  Guam 36.40 74
12 Steady  Thailand 36.23 76
13 Steady  China 34.85 80
14 Steady  India 33.07 84
15 Steady  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 Steady  Japan 65.80 12
2 Decrease  Kazakhstan 60.45 15
3 Steady  Hong Kong 57.89 19
4 Steady  China 49.34 24
5 Steady  Singapore 40.06 32
6 Steady   37.60 41
7 Steady  Thailand 36.35 44
8 Steady  Uzbekistan 35.40 46
9 Steady  Philippines 33.16 51
*Based on the World Rugby Rankings

Organisation structure[]

Updated: 26 March 2020[11]
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

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[]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "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[permanent dead link]. 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. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "Council & Executive Committee". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Contact us". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 26 March 2020.

External links[]

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