Unifying Players

International knowledge sharing of best practice

International Rugby Players Association believes in obtaining and sharing knowledge, bettering ourselves and each other.

Our member associations from around the world have a wealth of information and experience. Each year we host a knowledge-sharing conference where member Player Associations share information and ideas to ensure the game and players continue to thrive.

International Rugby Players Association is also a founding member of World Players Association – the independent worldwide representative body for elite athletes.

International research projects

International Rugby Players Association engages in a range of research projects, both internally conducted and through external partners. The information gathered from such projects helps our positioning on a range of welfare and rights related matters.

Establishment of new players associations

Countries without established player associations are represented by their national player representatives. In this way, our representative mandate covers male and female players across all the major rugby competitions and playing nations in both the 15’s and 7’s games. We are consistently working hard to set up new member associations where demand exists to do so.

International Player Leader Group

Through our General Executive, our members put forward leading players to contribute to IRPA and give the views of current players on a range of issues facing players. These players often represent us at a range of different forums, such was World Rugby’s “Shape of the Game” Conference and the Rugby Athletes Commission (RAC). Acting on behalf of their fellow players, these players are aware of the issues facing the game and provide feedback on their welfare and professional rugby environments, allowing us to target the most pressing issues facing the game’s participants. 

International Collective Campaigns

Our domestic associations engage in various forms of campaigns, including those that promote positive mental health and campaigns that promote greater concussion awareness.

We act as a conduit to amplifying the messages of these various campaigns, and in future, we plan to develop international campaigns driven via our global player base.

Collective Player Commercialisation

Utilising different pockets of our collective global player base, we are able to offer a unique commercial platform that no other stakeholder in the game can replicate. We are able to bring together profile players across different rugby regions in the world, whether in a physical sense or via social media.

International Constitution & Governance

We’ve recently undertaken a constitutional overhaul to allow us to be more dynamic and also more reflective of our member needs.

Our governance model has introduced greater player involvement as well as greater external expertise, which compliments the unique skillset of CEOs in our domestic associations.