Rugby union, widely known simply as rugby, is a full contact team sport that originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
Rugby union is a popular sport around the world, played by male and female players of all ages. Rules do not differ between the sexes. In 2014, there were more than 6 million people playing worldwide, of whom 2.36 million were registered players. World Rugby, previously called the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) and the International Rugby Board (IRB), has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886, and currently has 101 countries as full members and 18 associate members.
WORLD RUGBY
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport’s most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rugby 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 120 national unions. Each member country must also be a member of one of the six regional unions into which the world is divided: Africa, Americas North, 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 a further eighty 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.
Learn More -> world.rugby
Rugby Africa
Rugby Africa is one of the six regional associations of World Rugby and assembles the African nations that practise 15s and 7s rugby. Today, Rugby Africa organizes the Men’s and Women’s Rugby Africa Cup and Sevens tournaments as well as the U20 Barthés Trophy. To date, Rugby Africa counts 39 members, among whom 24 are full or associate members of World Rugby.
Rugby Africa drives with its dedicated team and in close collaboration with the unions the development of rugby through trainings, workshops, mass participation programs, modern tournament formats and communication.
Previously known as the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR), it exists since 1986 where it was officially launched in Tunis, Tunisia. with the inaugural members Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Kenya, Seychelles and Madagascar. The first organized competitions were the qualifications for the Rugby World Cups 1995 and 1999.
Several African teams participate in the biggest world competitions. South Africa is a regular participant of the Rugby World Cup with three World Cup Champion titles in 1995, 2007 and 2019 and seven participations, in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. Namibia is the second union to have represented Africa in this competition, with six participations in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019; Zimbabwe participated twice in 1987, 1991 and Côte d’Ivoire once in 1995.
In 2019, Rugby Africa’s competitions were redesigned. The continent counts several continental and regional tournaments: Men’s and Women’s Rugby Africa Cup, several regional Sevens tournaments, continental Men’s and Women’s Sevens tournaments and the U20 tournament.
Rugby Africa strives to stream its competitions live through social media to attract more fans and advertisers and ensure to transmit a good image of the game. An attractive image of rugby with modern tournaments and formats, that speak to the existing and new future fans.
Learn More -> rugbyafrique.com
HISTORY OF RUGBY IN EAST AFRICA
In dealing with the story of the Rugby Football Union of Kenya, it is of interest to record some of the very little that I known of the earliest days of rugby in East Africa.
The first known match to be played was at Mombasa in 1909 between the Officials and Settlers, and known that matches in Nairobi used to be played at Nairobi Club. The Royal navy played a very big part in the early days of rugby in these parts and we have ships: 1992 H.M.S Cairo; 1925 H.M.S Chatham; 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1931 H.M.S Effingham and 1928 H.M.S Enterprise (the donors of the Enterprise Cup)
Local rugby in the years prior to 1923 seems to have based on the main centers of the Plateau (Eldoret and Kitale), Rift (Nakuru District), Nairobi and Mombasa and matches conformed to the pattern of Town versus Country, Home Born versus Colonials, Officials versus settlers and matches between the various centres.
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Kenya Rugby Union Library
The Kenya Rugby Union is the body mandated to manage the game of rugby union in Kenya. It is an affiliate of World Rugby and Rugby Africa.
This Platform is to support all Kenya Rugby Union existing chairmen who improved lives
Learn More -> www.kru.co.ke
KENYA HARLEQUIN FC
Harlequin R.F.C. was formed in Nairobi in 1923 when the Nairobi District team split; two clubs were then created Harlequin RFC and Nondescripts RFC
Learn More -> https://quins.co.ke
IMPALA SARACENS RFC
Learn More -> https://impalasaracens.com
Nondescripts RFC
Learn More -> https://nondies.co.ke
Embu RC
Learn More-> @EmbuRugby
Blak Blad RC
Learn More-> @BlakBladRC
KCB Rugby Club
Kabras Rugby Club
Menengai Oiler Rugby Club
Nakuru Rugby Football Club
Kiambu Rugby Club – Badgers
USIU Rugby
