Story By :Sean Moore on sean.moore@elitestep.com

The Asian Rugby Football Union has announced a change of its official name to Asia Rugby.

The change was announced at the conclusion of the ARFU Mid Year Council Meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 31 May 2015. The new name and amended organizational logo were unanimously ratified at the Council Meeting.

The move aligns Asia Rugby with the former International Rugby Board’s change of name to World Rugby and with the recent name changes announced by other regional associations.

The change comes into place with immediate effect and will also feature a re-direction of all of ARFU social media platforms.  The new website for Asia Rugby can be found atwww.AsiaRugby.com.

Mr Trevor Gregory, President of Asia Rugby, commented on the change in name saying, “Changing the name to Asia Rugby brings us further in line with World Rugby and other Regional Associations.”

“As the official governing body for Rugby in a culturally and linguistically diverse region, the change of name to Asia Rugby will improve our outreach efforts and further enhance our visibility, helping us to grow the Game in the world’s most populous region.”

Founded in 1968 with 8 founding members (Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Thailand), Asia Rugby has grown to 32 members – 16 of which are full World Rugby member unions.

Asia Rugby covers an area spanning Kazakhstan in the north to Indonesia in the south and from Lebanon in the west to Guam in the east – a territory of over 44 square million kilometres and home to more than 3 billion people.

ARFU is the sanctioning body and organizer of the region’s elite sevens and 15s competitions – for both men and women – including the Asia Rugby Championship and Asia Rugby Women’s Championship, (both of which serve as the official qualification process for the region for the Rugby World Cup and Women’s Rugby World Cup), as well as the Asia Rugby Sevens Series and Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series.

Asia Rugby also hosts annual competitions for men and women from elite senior age levels to U20’s in both sevens and 15s across the region.  For more information on Asia Rugby please visit www.asiarugby.com or follow us on twitter: @asiarugby and Facebook /asiarugby.