Global Partners

Membership

Regional Association: Asia Rugby

Formed as the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) in 1968 by eight unions (Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand)

Full Member Unions: 23

Associate Member Unions: 4

The region covered by Asia Rugby is vast, stretching from the Mashriq countries in the west to Guam in the east and from the central Asian 'stans and Mongolia in the north to Sri Lanka and Indonesia in the south and south east.

The game, which was first introduced into Asia by British colonialism from the late 19th century onwards, continues to grow exponentially in a region containing 60 per cent of the world’s population and 80 per cent of the world’s youth and which hosted its first, transformative, Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019.

The Hong Kong Sevens put Asia on the global rugby map and is an event featuring on many people’s bucket lists of must-do trips in the region. The annual tournament and the success of Japan at RWC 2015, RWC 2019 and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continues to inspire the next generation across Asia.

Nepal
Nepal Rugby Associaton