World Rugby
International governing body of rugby union and its variants / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union.[1] World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition.[2] 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.
Formation | 1886; 138 years ago (1886) (as the International Rugby Football Board) |
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Type | International sport federation |
Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
Coordinates | 53°20′13″N 6°15′08″W |
Region served | Worldwide |
Membership | 113 member unions 17 associated unions |
Official languages | |
Chairman | Bill Beaumont |
Vice-Chairman | Bernard Laporte |
CEO | Alan Gilpin |
Affiliations | International Olympic Committee |
Website | www |
Formerly called | International Rugby Football Board (1886-1998) International Rugby Board (1998-2014) |
World Rugby's headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland.[3][4] Its membership now comprises 130 national unions.[5] Each member country must also be a member of one of the six regional unions into which the world is divided: Africa, North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and Oceania.[6]
World Rugby was founded as the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) in 1886 by Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with England joining in 1890.[7] Australia, New Zealand and South Africa became full members in 1949.[7] France became a member in 1978 and a further 80 members joined from 1987 to 1999.[7] The body was renamed the International Rugby Board (IRB) in 1998, and took up its current name of World Rugby in November 2014.[8] In 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to include rugby sevens in the 2016 Summer Olympics.[9] World Rugby gained membership of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) in 2010.[10]