| 日本ラグビーフットボール協会 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | 1926; 99 years ago (1926) |
| World Rugby affiliation | 1987 |
| Asia Rugby affiliation | 1968 |
| Patron | Princess Akiko of Mikasa |
| Chairman | Kensuke Iwabuchi |
| President | Masato Tsuchida |
| Men's coach | Eddie Jones |
| Women's coach | Lesley McKenzie |
| Website | en.rugby-japan.jp (in English) |
TheJapan Rugby Football Union (JRFU;Japanese:日本ラグビーフットボール協会,romanized: Nippon Ragubī Futtobōru Kyōkai) is the governing body forrugby union inJapan. It was formed 30 November 1926, and organises matches for theJapan national team.
The JRFU is currently one of only two federations from outside theSix Nations andThe Rugby Championship with a seat on the executive council ofWorld Rugby, the sport's international governing body (the other isRugby Canada). FormerJapanese prime ministerYoshirō Mori served as the JRFU's current president until 2015, when Tadashi Okamura took over the position.[1][2]
Rugby union was first introduced to Japanese students atKeio University in Japan by ProfessorEdward Bramwell Clarke (who was born inYokohama) andTanaka Ginnosuke, both graduates ofCambridge University, in 1899. It had been played at the treaty ports (Kobe andYokohama especially) before that, between teams of long-term foreign residents and visiting ships' crews, garrisons etc.
With Japan's advantages of a superb infrastructure (stadiums, accommodation and transportation) and the experience of co-staging theFootball World Cup 2002 withKorea, the JRFU bid to host theRugby World Cup in 2011.
The bid's catchphrase or slogan was "Making Rugby a Truly Global Sport". So far the Rugby World Cup has never been held outside the traditional rugby strongholds of the Northern and Southern hemisphere (the countries involved in the Six Nations and Tri-Nations tournaments). In that sense, the slogan was a justified attempt to grow the game worldwide, and make it a global sport.
The JRFU gave the following reasons for holding the Rugby World Cup in Japan at a press conference held on 22 September 2004:
However,New Zealand won the hosting rights in 2011 in a process which was later much criticised for lack of transparency as at the last minute the voting was made secret thanks to an Irish RU proposal. Reasons for JRFU not getting the cup were that the Union had never hosted a major rugby tournament before. As well as that, support for rugby in Japan was considered relatively poor, with many foreign players based in Japan commenting on the Top League's low crowd numbers. The biggest factor in preventing Japan winning the bid was believed to be it leaving important bid details until its final presentation in Dublin. Many delegates had been instructed for whom to vote prior to the final bid presentations.
Having lost out to New Zealand for the 2011 World Cup, Japan put in bids for the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. On 28 July 2009, the IRB awarded them the2019 Rugby World Cup, givingEngland the2015 Rugby World Cup due to its strong financial status.
In an effort to improve the overall standard of Japanese rugby, the JRFU created a new semi-professionalTop League in 2003 with the season spanning 2003-04. In the second season the League was composed of the following company-sponsored teams:
TheMicrosoft Cup is a knock-out tournament played between the top eight Top League teams. The winners of the first Microsoft Cup wereNEC Green Rockets, who beatToshiba Brave Lupus 24-19 on 22 February 2004. However, Toshiba won the 41st Japan Championship on 21 March 2004 when they beatKobelco Steelers 22-10.
The schedule for the 42nd All-Japan Championship was as follows:
2005
5 February
1.Fukuoka Sanix Bombs 47 Kanto Gakuin University 36 (Chichibunomiya)
2. Waseda University 59 Tamariba club 5 (Chichibunomiya)
12 February
3. Fukuoka Sanix Bombs 21NEC Green Rockets 55 (Chichibunomiya)
4. Waseda University 9Toyota Verblitz 28 (Chichibunomiya)
19 February
5. NEC Green Rockets 24Yamaha Jubilo 13 (Hanazono)
6. Toyota Verblitz 24Toshiba Brave Lupus 19 (Chichibunomiya)
27 February
7. Final - NEC Green Rockets 17 Toyota Verblitz 13 (Chichibunomiya)
The address for JRFU is:
Japan Rugby Football Union,
Kita Aoyama 2-8-35,
Minato ward,
Tokyo 107-0061
For the historical background see Chapter 27Nish, Alison (1999). "Britain's Contribution to the Development of Rugby Football in Japan 1874-1998".Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits. Vol. III. Japan Library.ISBN 1-873410-89-1.
| Governing body | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National teams |
| ||||||||||
| Competitions |
| ||||||||||
| Major figures | |||||||||||
| Related articles | |||||||||||
| Summer Olympic Sports |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympic Sports |
| |
| Other IOC Recognised Sports |
| |
| Paralympics and Disabled Sports | ||
| Others Sports | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
