In any discussion of the World Rugby president elections the chief demand above all else for "Tier 2" nations simply has to be reform to improve their future voting representation. Even if all the other ideas of a proposed candidate are poor, this change alone would in the longer term allow Unions to address that and vote more for their interests moving forward.
The current World Rugby council voting structure (51 votes overall) is as follows:
11 "Tier 1 Unions get 3 votes each: Argentina, Australia, England, France, Japan, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Wales.
6 "Tier 2" Unions get 1 vote each: Canada, Georgia, Samoa, Romania, United States, Uruguay (note: Fiji have been suspended from the Council due to questions over their governance, whilst Tonga and Namibia have not been admitted due to poor governance).
6 regional associations get 2 votes each: Rugby Africa, Asia Rugby, Rugby Europe, Rugby Americas North, Sudamérica Rugby, Oceania Rugby.
The voting system is basically rigged so "Tier 1" (even if Argentina is a bit of a rebel among them) basically runs the sport. Any World Rugby policy or decision is very close to the exact same thing as a "Tier 1" policy or decision. The bottom 50% Unions at the men's World Cup has not even 20% of the votes and the 93 Unions not at the men's World Cup have 0%.
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| Spain is one of the busiest "Tier 2" Unions in terms of activity on both the men's and women's sides yet have 0 votes on the WR council |
Nobody would demand equal votes for each nation. In a sport where a significant chunk of the full member Unions very low down the rankings are barely active if at all this seems silly. However there are nevertheless some Unions who the status quo represents so poorly to point of utter disrespect to their investment, interest, and future potential in rugby.
This applies to a few countries, but perhaps the biggest example of anyone is Spain.
Spain has long been one of the busiest "Tier 2" rugby nations in fielding highly active men's and women's programs and also stretch their resources to make efforts to seriously compete in 15s and 7s (this is perhaps not best advised but that is a different discussion).
By 2027 there is a good chance they could be one of just 12 Unions who compete at both 15s World Cups for men and women whilst simultaneously playing on both men's and women's 7s circuits. If you were to create some ranking system that weighted and four sectors (both men's and women's 15 and 7s) then Spain would rate above even a couple "Tier 1" Unions with 3 votes.
For all this energy and activity Spain has put into rugby they are rewarded with zero individual voice in World Rugby decisions. That quite simply is shocking disrespect and it is high time that far more pressure is put on WR to reform.
According to the criteria to gain a vote a nation must have qualified for the two most recent men's 15s World Cups (although once you have a vote you don't lose it for failure to qualify). So it is impossible for Spain to gain a vote until 2031 at the very earliest.
Now obviously it makes total sense that standing in men's 15s is given extra weight as easily the most important segment of the sport. Yet equally it seems wrong that efforts made in the rest of the sport (women's and 7s) counts for absolutely nothing whatsoever (one may also note the hypocrisy in World Rugby boasting about their latest superficial fake corporate feminist move like pointlessly removing the "women's" out of "women's World Cup", whilst giving zero weight to women's rugby at all in their criteria for votes).
Spain of course really deserve more votes just on men's rugby where they are one of the most promising "Tier 2" nations, but the combination of that, along with their efforts in women's rugby makes their 0 votes surely the most egregious case of a Union being poorly represented by the status quo.
Yet there are plenty others. There is a good case both Canada and USA deserve more voice considering their significant contribution to the women's game too on top of the men's. Also for one Tier 1 Union like Scotland or Italy to get 3 times the votes of Uruguay or Georgia seems excessive.
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| Rugby Europe has equal voting power as Oceania despite overseeing multiple times more active teams |
Finally when it comes to the Regional Associations. It should be noted that there is an imbalance between for example Oceania Rugby, which oversees only five active men's 15s teams (none others are even involved in RWC 2027 qualifying process), and in practice simply extra votes for New Zealand and Australia. Next to Rugby Europe, which gets same votes, but oversees far more teams (around 30) who are active. "Tier 2" Unions in Europe, a region with hugely exciting growth potential, have a massively underpowered voice in WR decisions.
World Rugby is supposed to be a global governing body that represents and makes policies for the entire sport. It does not make sense for virtually moribund Unions (eg Greece ranked 111 who have not played a match in 10 years) to get increased votes. Yet there are numerous "Tier 2" nations who have invested notable efforts into development of rugby on either or both the men's and women's sides and are not getting their interests and viewpoints represented even remotely fairly by the status quo.
This is a big issue for the sport's growth and development. Not always, but in general, better policy for "Tier 2" to progress is more likely if those with "skin in the game" were able to have more of a voice in WR votes. The current system is an abomination and needs to be massively overhauled not just tinkered with. Unfortunately though things can only ever change if the "Tier 1" dominated WR council votes for it in the first place. So the status quo may be stuck.
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