World Rugby is the world governing body of the sport of Rugby Union, a type of rugby football. World Rugby organizes major international tournaments, including the Rugby World Cup and the Women’s Rugby World Cup. World Rugby also hands out awards and punishments, and formulates Rugby Union’s code of rules known as the Laws of the Game.
World Rugby was founded as the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) in Dublin, Ireland, in 1886. The IRFB’s founding unions were Ireland (including Northern Ireland), Scotland, and Wales. Each union was the governing body for a conference of rugby clubs, but they believed a central authority was needed. England joined in 1890, and Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa gained IRFB membership in 1949. France joined in 1978, and dozens more countries have joined since then. The IRFB became the International Rugby Board (IRB) in 1998. The IRB was renamed World Rugby in 2014.
The first Rugby World Cup took place in Australia and New Zealand in 1987, and the first Women’s World Cup was held in Wales in 1991. Typically, each tournament is held every four years. Rugby Sevens, a version of Rugby Union with only seven players per side, has its own men’s and women’s World Cup as well. Rugby Sevens debuted as an official sport of the Olympic Games in 2016.
The World Rugby Council is the organization’s legislative body. The council meets twice per year, but a special meeting can be called to decide pressing and unexpected matters. Individual countries can have up to three votes each. The number of votes a country has depends on membership status, whether the country has qualified for recent Rugby World Cups, and other factors. World Rugby’s six regional associations have two votes each, and the council’s chairman gets one vote. The regional associations are Rugby Africa, Asia Rugby, Rugby Europe, Rugby Americas North, Oceania Rugby, and Sudamérica (South America) Rugby.
World Rugby’s Executive Committee oversees the organization’s management and operation. Representatives from World Rugby’s six regional associations and more than 100 member unions meet every two years in a General Assembly to make recommendations to the council. World Rugby member unions come from independent countries as well as such dependencies and regions as Guam and Hong Kong. World Rugby headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland.
