International Rugby Board

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The International Rugby Board (IRB) is the world governing and law-making body for the sport of rugby union, and previously for rugby football. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) by Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England originally refused to take part, but in 1890, it became the first non-founding union to become a member.^[1][2] The International Rugby Football Board became the International Rugby Board before 1997^{[citation needed]}. The IRB's headquarters are located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.^[3]

The IRB has 95 full member Unions, 20 Associate members and six Regional Associations, with the 95 full member unions meeting bi-annually and Regional Associations organising regular meetings.^[3] The IRB organises some of the sport's international competitions, with the Rugby World Cup (occurring every four years) being the most popular and highest profit competition for the IRB, as seen by the £81.8 million (approximately $USD150 million, €118 million, ¥17300 million) gross commercial income of the 2003 tournament.^[4] The IRB also provides money to smaller nations, such as the Pacific Island teams, who are unable to generate their own income.

Contents 1 History 2 Competitions 3 Olympics 4 Funding 5 Structure 6 Laws and regulations 7 Anti-doping 8 World rankings 9 Recognitions and awards 10 References 11 External links

[edit] History

Until 1885, the laws of rugby union were made by England, as the founder union. However, following a disputed try in an international between Scotland and England, letters were exchanged, in which England claimed they made the laws, and the try should stand.^[1] In 1885, Scotland refused to play England. Following the dispute, the home unions of Scotland, Ireland and Wales founded the International Rugby Football Board. England refused to take part, stating that they should have greater representation, as they have more clubs.^[5] The England Union also refused to accept the IRFB as the recognised law maker of the game.^[5] This led to the IRFB taking the stance of member countries not playing England until they joined. In 1890, England joined the IRFB.^[1] The same year, the IRFB wrote the first international laws of rugby union.^[6]

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 a Saturday.^[7] 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.^[7]. The debate of broken time payments ultimately lead to the 22 leading clubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire to form the Northern Rugby Union, a sport today known as rugby league.^[7]

In the late 1950s the IRFB was first presented with the idea of organising a World Championship, similar to that of the FIFA World Cup. Australian International Harold Tolhurst suggested the concept in the latter stages of the decade. Nothing came of the notion, and the concept lay dormant for another ten years. In 1968, the IRFB officially stated that it "forbade" its Unions to get involved in anything that resembled the Football (soccer) World Cup. The primary reason for this avoidance of forming a world championship, was that it was predicted that such a concept would have an impact on the amateur way of rugby (a prediction which later turned out correct).^[8]

In the early 1980s the IRFB were pressured to start a World Cup, with another proposal emerging in 1982, when Englishman Neil Durden-Smith suggested that one should be held in the mid 1980s in the British Isles. The board dismissed the concept again, citing that it found "no support". Also during this period, the game's amateur way was under pressure to go professional, with entrepreneur David Lord suggesting that the game should look to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.^[8]

The World Cup idea resurfaced in 1983 when the New Zealand Rugby Union and Australian Rugby Union each proposed hosting such a tournament. In March the following year the board committed to at least perform a World Cup feasibility study. A year later there was another meeting in Paris, and the Union's subsequently voted on the idea. The concept was met with opposition from mainly the home nations Unions. It was the South African Rugby Union's vote that proved to be very important, as they voted in favour, even though they knew they would be excluded. English and Welsh votes were then changed, and the vote was won 10-six.^[8]

[edit] Competitions

The first Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand and Australia in 1987. Since then the World Cup has been held every four years, with the next event due to be held in France in 2007. It has become the third biggest international sporting event, behind the Summer Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup.^[9][10]

Rugby World Cup Ltd., which is directed by the IRB, owns all rights associated with the World Cup. Due to its size, the revenues from the World Cup contribute much to the funds that the IRB distributes to the rugby unions, to aid and assist them in their development.

The IRB also sanctions the Women's Rugby World Cup, though the first two women's event were not sanctioned by the board, and indeed the first event in Wales in 1991 went ahead despite IRB opposition. The tournament is now held every four years in the year before the men's event.

The IRB is responsible for the organising of several competitions involving rugby sevens, as oppoosed to the full 15-a side game. The 2005-06 World Sevens Series had a potential audience reach of 475 million, being broadcast in over 130 countries, and has been witnessing massive growth in recent years.^[11]

The Scottish Rugby Union proposed the idea of a World Cup for sevens. The idea was given the green light, and was held in Scotland in 1993 for the first time, Scotland being the traditional home of sevens, as it was actually created there. Nine Unions expressed their interest in hosting the 2009 event due to its popularity. Unions from the Arabian Gulf, Australia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, South Africa and USA all expressed their intent to host the tournament. The 2009 event will also feature a women's competition for sevens for the first time as well.

In addition to the World Cups for the national men's and women's teams, as well as a number of sevens comptitions, the IRB organises a number of other tournaments around the world. The IRB is committed to developing rugby in North America, and as such, runs the Churchill Cup and the Super Powers Cup, as well as more recently, the North America 4, with an aim of creating long-term professional rugby leagues in North America. The IRB has a similar presence in the Pacific Rim, running the Pacific Rugby Cup, as well as the Pacific Nations Cup. The IRB also recently created the Nations Cup, which aims to develop rugby union in Portugal and Russia, as well as enabling the Argentina and Italy 'A' teams to have regular competition. The IRB also runs the under 21 Rugby World Championship, as well as the under 19 version.

[edit] Olympics

See also: Rugby union at the Summer Olympics

The sport of rugby union has been played at the Summer Olympics on four occasions, with the last being in 1924. The winners, and thus the reigning champions, were the U.S. team. Rugby union made one more appearance as a demonstration event but was then completely pulled from the Olympics due to a number of problems. There were some attempts to reintroduce the sport to the Olympic program in the 1980s, but nothing ever eventuated from the efforts. The IRB has most recently been very keen to see it return to the Games and is adamant that the sport (specifically referring to rugby sevens) satisfies every respect of the criteria set out in the Olympic Charter.^[12]

The IRB cites rugby union's global participation, with men playing the game in well over 100 countries, with women playing in over 50 as well; the IRB's compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code; and that a rugby sevens tournament could be (and generally is) accommodated in one stadium and is relatively inexpensive to play.^[12] Not only is the sevens game successful in the context of the Sevens World Series and World Cup Sevens, it is also very successfully played in the Commonwealth Games; the sevens tournament at the 2006 Games in Melbourne set all-time attendance records for a sevens tournament.

[edit] Funding

The IRB have recently released £18.6 million of funding over three years for tier two nations Canada, the USA, Japan, Romania, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Argentina will also receive additional support to enable it to retain its tier one status. The money, built up from successful World Cups, was released following a report commissioned by the IRB highlighting the growing disparity between tier one and tier two nations. (see IRB statement). 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. Three new crossborder competitions involving Tier 2 nations were launched in 2006:

• The IRB Pacific 5 Nations, a competition involving the full national teams of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Japan, plus New Zealand's "senior A" side, the Junior All Blacks
• The Pacific Rugby Cup, a competition similar to the Super 14 with two franchises each from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga
• The North America 4, a competition similar to the Pacific Rugby Cup, with two franchises each from Canada and the USA

It was announced in April of 2006 that tier-3 rugby nations; Georgia, Portugal, Tunisia and Russia were identified as the key investment nations over the next three years. The program is designed to increase the competitiveness of international rugby union.

[edit] Structure

The Executive Council meets twice a year. It consists of eight Unions with two seats each: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Four unions have one seat each: Argentina, Canada, Italy and Japan as does FIRA–AER. The full membership meets at a General Meeting which is convened every two years. Regional meetings are held at regular intervals.^[3] The current chairman of the IRB is Dr. Syd Millar.

[edit] Laws and regulations

The laws of rugby union are controlled by a standing Laws Committee, which is established by the IRB Council. The current chairman of the committee is Bill Beaumont. The Laws of the Game are formulated by the IRB, and are then circulated by the national Unions. The official laws of the game are written in English, French, Russian and Spanish. There are variations for under-19 and Sevens rugby. There are 21 regulations in total, these regulations range from definitions, eligibility, advertising, disciplinary, anti-doping and a number of other areas. The IRB also approves equipment, which are tested at an IRB Approved Testing House.

[edit] Anti-doping

The IRB is compliant with the WADA code. The IRB anti doping programme includes testing at the under 19 and under 21 level, sevens and senior 15 a side. Testing is a mix of in-competition at IRB organised events, as well as out-of-competition testing, which can occur at any time. In 2003, World Cup year, the IRB member unions undertook approximately 3,000 tests.^[13] "Keep Rugby Clean" is a campaign message run by the IRB Anti-Doping Manager Tim Ricketts. The programme is supported by stars such as Brian O'Driscoll.^[14]

[edit] World rankings

The IRB publishes and maintains the World Rankings of the men's national rugby union teams. The concept was launched in October of 2003. The rankings are calculated using a Points Exchange system, whereby nations take points off each other based on a match result. Several years of research went into developing the rankings system, using an extensive database of international matches that date back to 1871. The system's reliability is assessed in a number of objective ways, which includes predictions of current strength and responds to changes in form. The system takes into account home advantage, in that the home nation is treated as though it has an extra three rating points, effectively handicapping them, as they will gain less ranking points for a win, and lose more should they lose.

Currently all capped internationals are equally weighted, with only a World Cup final given special weighting, margin of victory and narrow losses to currently not weigh in on the points system. In the case of a freak result, there is a maximum number of movements on the ranking that any nation can gain from one match. If a nation does not play for a number of years they are considered dormant, and excluded from the rankings, upon returning, picking up from where they were excluded. If a nation is to merge or split, the highest rating of any of the rankings is inherited.

[edit] Recognitions and awards

The IRB Awards are an annual event that honour outstanding achievement in rugby union. The awards began in 2001. The last ceremony was held in Paris on 27 November 2005. There are 13 awards in total, ranging from yearly performance in terms of player, national team and coach, as well as those that honour service to the game, spirit, as well as development. Generally, the awards, at least the ones given on a year's recognition, are swept by that particular season's most successful nation(s); France in 2002, England 2003, South Africa 2004, New Zealand in 2005 and so on. For the award categories that have nominees, they are shortlisted by the Awards' independent panel of judges, which is made up of a number of former internationals, which in total, the judges have 503 caps between them. The current judges are; Francois Pienaar, Michael Jones, Gavin Hastings, Jonathan Davies, Dan Lyle, Federico Mendez and past Player of the Year winners Fabien Galthie and Keith Wood, as well as convenor John Eales.

In 2006 the IRB Hall of Fame was established to chronicle achievement and the special contribution of the sport's players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other individuals. At the 2006 IRB Awards, the Hall of Fame was inaugurated, with the first two inductees being named as William Webb Ellis and the Rugby school.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• International Rugby Board - official website
• IRB The Laws of rugby union
• IRB World Rankings