International Rugby Board Committed to Acquisition

Dublin – Ireland, July 04, 2012: Acquisition, The application by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to acquire the .RUGBY internet domain name is the only .RUGBY application supported by the representatives of the global Rugby community and is in the best interests of the sport.

The application is founded on a mandate from the IRB’s global membership (118 IRB member countries representing more than 5.5 million registered players across all continents). As Rugby’s global governing federation, the IRB is the only valid contender for the .RUGBY domain name and does not support or authorize any other applicant as a valid steward of the .RUGBY domain name.

The IRB wants to keep the .RUGBY domain within the sport for the benefit of the global Rugby community in order to uphold and promote the sport of Rugby’s values and ethos and to protect the sport, its trademarks and the interests of its core stakeholders. The IRB is committed to ensuring .RUGBY is accountable to and used in the best interests of the Game of Rugby and the Rugby community.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset, said: “The IRB is the proper and rightful steward for the .RUGBY domain and will ensure that all within the global Rugby family can benefit. We are the only applicant representing the Rugby community and do not recognize any other applicant as a valid steward of the .RUGBY domain. We are working closely in partnership with our national federations, to make the .RUGBY domain accessible to the global Rugby family at all levels including players (recreational and professional), organizers and, of course, fans.”

The sport of Rugby is founded upon respect for the principles of fair play and sportsmanship and the values of a drug-free Game. It is built upon the fact that Rugby is a sport for all shapes and sizes, all religions, men, women and children and above all is a sport that can be enjoyed both as an individual and as a team. Rugby is experiencing unprecedented global growth, interest and support with an 18 per cent increase in participation over the last four years and more than 5.5 million registered men, women and children actively participating across 118 IRB Member countries. —- IRB

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