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48-809: 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". Asia Rugby has 36 member unions. Not all member unions are members of World Rugby . 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 22 World Rugby members, and 6 World Rugby associates: There are 8 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 Armenia , Cyprus , Georgia , Israel , Russia and Turkey – are members of

96-562: A Saturday. Cumberland County Union also complained of another club using monetary incentives to lure players, leading to the IRFB conducting an enquiry. The IRFB was warned by all the chief clubs in Lancashire and Yorkshire that any punishment would lead to the clubs seceding from the union. The debate over broken time payments ultimately caused the 22 leading clubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire to form

144-665: A further 80 members joined from 1987 to 1999. The body was renamed the International Rugby Board ( IRB ) in 1998, and took up its current name of World Rugby in November 2014. In 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to include rugby sevens in the 2016 Summer Olympics . World Rugby gained membership of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) in 2010. Until 1885

192-488: A member of one of the six regional unions into which the world is divided: Africa, North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and Oceania. World Rugby was founded as the International Rugby Football Board ( IRFB ) in 1886 by Scotland , Wales and Ireland , with England joining in 1890. Australia , New Zealand and South Africa became full members in 1949. France became a member in 1978 and

240-536: 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. 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 The Asian Sevens Series

288-597: A team to be known as Glasgow Caledonian. The Borders was resurrected in 2002 and joined the second season of the Celtic League, now known as the United Rugby Championship . As a consequence Edinburgh Reivers became simply Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow became Glasgow Rugby. In 2005, all three teams adopted new names. The Borders readopted the name Border Reivers; Edinburgh became Edinburgh Gunners, but would revert to Edinburgh in 2006 due to Arsenal F.C. owning

336-611: A year and manages and controls the affairs of World Rugby. The Council formulates and oversees the implementation of World Rugby's strategic plan and application of policy decisions, and selects the host nation(s) for the Rugby World Cup . The Council considers recommendations of the General Assembly. The Council may admit or expel member nations. The council is also the supreme legislative authority of World Rugby. Most Council decisions require approval of simple majority, but to amend

384-1287: Is a four-step process: Regional Unions Six regional associations, which represent each continent, are affiliated with World Rugby and help to develop the fifteen-a-side game as well as Rugby sevens across the world. Not all members of the regional associations are members of World Rugby. Below is a list of member and associate unions and their regional associations with the year that they joined World Rugby. Associate unions are in italics . There are 21 World Rugby members and 6 World Rugby associates: Suspended unions: Notes:   * Denotes associate membership date. There are 22 World Rugby members, and 6 World Rugby associates: Notes:   * Denotes associate membership date. There are 38 World Rugby members, and 2 World Rugby associates: Suspended unions: Notes:   * Denotes associate membership date. There are 12 World Rugby members, and 1 World Rugby associate: Notes:   * Denotes associate membership date. There are 9 World Rugby members, and 2 World Rugby associates: Notes:   * Denotes associate membership date. There are 11 World Rugby members: World Rugby's largest members, ranked by number of participants in 2019, are: The World Rugby Council meets twice

432-509: Is held over five- or six-legs. Both tournaments followed the same principle—points are awarded based on a teams position in each round of the series, and the team with the most points at the end of the Series is crowned champions. Following the inclusion of rugby sevens into the Olympics, beginning with the 2014–15 series, the series prior to an Olympic event (i.e. the series which ends in the year before

480-589: Is similar to the HSBC World Sevens Series , but at a regional level. 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. As of 2020, the president of Asia Rugby is Qais Al-Dhalai of

528-716: Is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland . Now marketed as Scottish Rugby , it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league system, known as the Scottish League Championship , and the Scottish National teams. The SRU is headed by the President ( Colin Rigby ) and Chairman (John McGuigan), with Mark Dodson acting as the chief executive officer. Dee Bradbury became

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576-759: Is the main home ground of the Scottish national team , though in 2004 international rugby games were played at Hampden Park in Glasgow and McDiarmid Park in Perth , as part of the SRU's campaign to reach out to new audiences outside the traditional rugby areas. When the Heineken Cup (now replaced by the European Rugby Champions Cup ) was suggested SRU officials were concerned that Scottish club sides could not compete against

624-653: The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union , represented Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia and the UAE 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

672-507: The Northern Rugby Football Union . The competing unions' laws of the game diverged almost immediately; the northern body's code eventually became known as rugby league football. England's seats on the IRFB were reduced from six to four in 1911. The Australian Rugby Union , New Zealand Rugby Football Union and South African Rugby Board joined the board with one seat each in 1948, with England's seats being reduced to two,

720-662: The Rugby Union of Russia was suspended from World Rugby. In the 1960s Australians Harold Tolhurst and Jock Kellaher suggested a World Rugby Championship be held in Australia but the IRFB refused. In 1983 and 1984 respectively, the Australian and New Zealand Rugby Football Unions each proposed hosting such a tournament. The following year the board committed to conduct a feasibility study. A year later another meeting took place in Paris, and

768-610: The Scottish Cup . It is not directly responsible for local, university or 2nd XV leagues. See also Scottish Women's Rugby . Since the Scottish Women's Rugby Union merged with Scottish Rugby in 2009 the governing body also oversees Women's Fixtures. A National Cup competition: Regional Cup Competition: The SRU oversees Scotland's national teams. The most prominent team is the Scotland national rugby union team , which competes in

816-603: The "Gunners" trademark; and Glasgow became Glasgow Warriors . Furthermore, the SRU planned to have a world-class rugby side for each city or large town in Scotland, when financial circumstances permitted. In 2007, The Borders team was disbanded yet again as a result of continuing financial difficulties. In the same year, the SRU began organising the Scotland Sevens , first held in Edinburgh and later in Glasgow. For several years, it

864-830: The Chief Executive sit on the World Rugby Executive Committee. A General Assembly of the full membership is convened every two years. The General Assembly may make recommendations to the council, and may consider business that the council has referred to it, but the General Assembly has no legislative powers. The current Chair of World Rugby is Brett Robinson who was elected following the Executive Council vote on 14 November 2024. Previous chairmen include Bill Beaumont (2008 to 2024), Bernard Lapasset (2008 to 2016), Syd Millar (2002 to 2007) and Vernon Pugh , QC (1994 to 2002). In July 2012, Brett Gosper

912-591: 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 . A former member,

960-468: The Olympics takes place) forms the first phase of Olympic qualification. When Olympic Qualification was included, the top four teams from both the men's and women's series qualified for the Olympic Games, and remaining teams competed in regional competitions for one of the remaining places. Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union ( SRU ; Scottish Gaelic : Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba )

1008-579: The RFU to join the SFU. The SFU was a founding member of the one and only International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby , in 1886 with Ireland and Wales . (England refused to join until 1890.) In 1924 the SFU changed its name to become the Scottish Rugby Union. International games were played at Inverleith from 1899 to 1925 when Murrayfield was opened. The SRU owns Murrayfield Stadium which

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1056-595: The Scottish national women's rugby team is Shade Munro . On 28 March 2019, the SRU announced that it had taken a minority stake in Old Glory DC , a team set to begin play in Major League Rugby (MLR), the current top level of the sport in the United States and Canada , in 2020. As MLR operates on a "single-entity" business model similar to the two countries' Major League Soccer , with the league owning all teams and

1104-657: The Six Nations tournament every year and in the Rugby World Cup every four years. The SRU also oversees the Scotland national sevens team , which competes every year in the World Rugby Sevens Series . And the SRU oversees the Scotland national women's rugby team. The head coach of the Scotland national rugby union team is Gregor Townsend , who began in June 2017. Scott Johnson is Director of Rugby. The head coach of

1152-471: The USA were added to the voting Council with one vote each. Additionally, current Council members Argentina, Canada and Italy were granted a second representative and vote. The six regional associations represented on the council also received an additional vote. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , World Rugby suspended Russia from international and European continental rugby union competition. In addition,

1200-495: The Union subsequently voted on the idea. The South African Rugby Board's vote that proved crucial in setting up a tied vote, as they voted in favour, even though they knew they would be excluded due to the sporting boycott because of their apartheid policies. English and Welsh votes then changed, and the vote was won 10 to 6. As at June 2024, World Rugby has 113 member unions and 17 associate member unions. Membership of World Rugby

1248-545: 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 in Hong Kong. Also, Asia Rugby has contracted with a number of Officers in Asia for Development. World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union . World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years,

1296-570: The World Rugby's by-laws, regulations, or the Laws of the Game requires approval of three quarters of the council. Prior to 2016, the council had 28 voting members from 12 national unions. In November 2015, World Rugby announced that they would add more unions to the voting council and give the six regional associations two votes each on the council. As of October 2023 , the council had 52 members including

1344-577: The best teams from France and England and that centrally funded so-called 'super-district' teams might do better. The four traditional districts—the South (renamed Border Reivers ), Edinburgh, Glasgow and the North & Midlands (rebranded as Caledonia Reds )—were given the go-ahead to take part in Europe. For the first two seasons, players were still released to play for their clubs in domestic competition, but eventually

1392-456: The districts became full-time operations. Then financial difficulties – the SRU's high debt, partly as a result of the redevelopment of Murrayfield – called for retrenchment. After two seasons, financial difficulties forced the SRU to merge the four teams into two. Edinburgh merged with the Border Reivers to form a team to be known as Edinburgh Reivers. Glasgow merged with Caledonian to form

1440-465: The effective management and operation of the World Rugby. The Committee formulates and monitors the implementation of the World Rugby's strategic plan, business plan, operational plan and budget. In 2016, as part of the reforms to the World Rugby Council, the executive committee was increased to 12 members. The Chairman, Vice-chairman, nine elected officials, including two independent members, and

1488-530: The first female president of a Tier 1 rugby nation upon her appointment on 4 August 2018. The Scottish Football Union was founded on Monday 3 March 1873 at a meeting held at Glasgow Academy , Elmbank Street, Glasgow. Eight clubs were represented at the foundation, Glasgow Academicals ; Edinburgh Academical Football Club ; West of Scotland F.C. ; University of St Andrews Rugby Football Club ; Royal High School FP ; Merchistonians ; Edinburgh University RFC ; and Glasgow University . Five of these clubs were, at

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1536-480: The founding nations, including: England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, with just 3% of viewers coming from all other countries. The most recent Rugby World Cup was held in France in 2023 . South Africa defeated New Zealand 12–11 in the Rugby World Cup final, winning a record fourth title. World Rugby also organises the women's Rugby World Cup , also held every four years. It

1584-410: The founding of the IRFB, stating that they should have greater representation, as they had more clubs. The England Union also refused to accept the IRFB as the recognised lawmaker of the game. This led to the IRFB taking the stance of member countries not playing England until they joined, and no games were played against England in 1888 and 1889. In 1890 England joined the IRFB, gaining six seats while

1632-487: The laws of rugby football were made by England as the founder nation. However, following a disputed try in an international between Scotland and England in 1884, letters were exchanged in which England claimed that they made the laws, and the try should stand. Scotland refused to play England in the 1885 Home Nations Championship . Following the dispute, the home unions of Scotland, Ireland and Wales decided to form an international union whose membership would agree on

1680-519: The new coat of arms of the SRU that was granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms on 28 February 1973, for the centenary season. The coat of arms is still in use today, but in the main the SRU use the commercial thistle logo on jerseys and stationery. The coat of arms has the motto "Non Sine Gloria" , meaning "Not Without Glory" . The SRU oversees the national league system, known as the Scottish League Championship , and consisting of: It also oversees

1728-505: The next three years. The program was designed to increase the competitiveness of international rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup , the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition, which has been held every four years since 1987. Despite the profitability of the World Cup, the majority of its revenues and viewers come from a small number of countries. For the 2007 Rugby World Cup final , 97% of viewers came from

1776-548: The non-voting chairman, so there were 51 voting members from 17 national unions and 6 regional associations, allocated as follows: In total, Europe has 22 votes; Oceania 9 votes; South America 6 votes; Africa 5 votes; Asia 5 votes and North America 4 votes. A Chairman and Vice Chairman are elected from among the council members. These positions are held by Bill Beaumont of England and Bernard Laporte of France, respectively, elected as of April 2020 . The executive committee, in accordance with bye-laws 9.14–9.16, ensures

1824-475: The other unions had two each. The same year, the IRFB wrote the first international laws of rugby union. In 1893, the IRFB was faced with the divide between amateurism and professionalism , which was nicknamed the "Great Schism". Following the introduction of working-class men to the game in Northern England, clubs began paying "broken time" payments to players, due to the loss of earnings from playing on

1872-605: The same as the other home nations. The three Southern Hemisphere unions were given a second seat each in 1958. The French Rugby Federation was admitted in 1978, the Argentine Rugby Union , Italian Rugby Federation and USA Rugby Football Union in 1987, and the Canadian Rugby Union , and Japan Rugby Football Union were admitted in 1991. In 2016, the Georgia Rugby Union , Romanian Rugby Federation , and

1920-629: The sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series , the Rugby World Cup Sevens , the World Under 20 Championship , and the Pacific Nations Cup . World Rugby's headquarters are in Dublin , Ireland. Its membership now comprises 133 national unions. Each member country must also be

1968-743: The standard rules of rugby football. The three nations met in Dublin in 1886, though no formal regulations were agreed upon. On 5 December 1887, committee members of the Irish Rugby Football Union , Scottish Rugby Union (named the Scottish Football Union at the time) and Welsh Rugby Union met in Manchester and wrote up the first four principles of the International Rugby Football Board. England refused to take part in

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2016-527: The team operators being league shareholders, this effectively meant that the SRU had taken a small stake in MLR itself. The current president is Colin Rigby who succeeded Ian Barr in 2022. John McGuigan was appointed chair in May 2023. The Chief Executive Officer is Mark Dodson. In May 2014, it was announced that Sheila Begbie had been appointed to the newly created post of Head of Women's Rugby, reporting directly to

2064-472: The time of founding the Scottish Football Union, already members of the previously instituted Rugby Football Union . Although the RFU now represents exclusively English clubs, in its first few years it had members from outside England, there being no other national union. West of Scotland, Glasgow Academicals and Edinburgh University had joined the RFU in 1871 and Edinburgh Academicals and Royal High School FP had joined in 1872. These five renounced membership of

2112-705: Was appointed as the new Chief Executive of what was then the IRB. He will leave this role at the end of 2020 to become head of the National Football League 's operations in Europe. In 2013 World Rugby released £18.6 million of funding over three years for developing rugby in Canada, the United States, Japan, Romania, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. Argentina also received additional support to enable it to retain its tier one status. The money, built up from successful World Cups,

2160-565: Was first held by the IRB in 1998, though tournaments in 1991 and 1994 were retrospectively recognised in 2009. The women's World Cup is contested by fewer teams than the men's Cup, with only the 1998 and 2002 editions featuring more than 12 teams (these competitions both had 16 teams, compared to the 20 teams in the men's Rugby World Cup). On 21 August 2019, World Rugby announced that all future men's and women's World Cups would officially be known as "Rugby World Cup", with no sex or gender designations. The first tournament to be affected by this policy

2208-454: Was released following a report commissioned by World Rugby highlighting the growing disparity between tier one and tier two nations. This is in addition to the £10–12 million it normally gives out grants and tournament costs. The emphasis is on three areas infrastructure, high performance units and cross border competitions. In April 2006, tier-3 rugby nations Georgia, Portugal, Tunisia and Russia were identified as key investment nations over

2256-456: Was the 2021 Rugby World Cup, for women's team in New Zealand. World Rugby organised three international sevens tournaments - two annual Sevens Series (one for men and one for women ) which are now defunct. The quadrennial Rugby World Cup Sevens is still active. The men's season-long annual Sevens Series took place over 10 legs, each held in a different country. The women's Sevens Series

2304-424: Was the final event in the annual Sevens World Series , but that distinction now belongs to Madrid. On 21 November 2009 Scotland beat Australia 9–8 after 17 attempts in 27 years. The SRU celebrated its centenary in 1973 with a number of events. Among these was the 1973 International Seven-A-Side Tournament , the first sevens tournament to have national representative sides. The programme for that event also sported

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