before a game to ensure that it conforms to the laws of the game. Governing bodies The international governing body of rugby union (and associated games such as sevens) is World Rugby (WR). The WR headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland. WR, founded in 1886, governs the sport worldwide and publishes the game's laws and rankings. As of February 2014, WR (then known as the IRB, for International Rugby Board) recorded 119 unions in its membership, 101 full members and 18 associate member countries. According to WR, rugby union is played by men and women in over 100 countries. WR controls the Rugby World Cup, the Women's Rugby World Cup, Rugby World Cup Sevens, HSBC Sevens Series, HSBC Women's Sevens Series, World Under 20 Championship, World Under 20 Trophy, Nations Cup and the Pacific Nations Cup. WR holds votes to decide where each of these events are to be held, except in the case of the Sevens World Series for men and women, for which WR contracts with several national unions to hold individual events. Six regional associations, which are members of WR, form the next level of administration; these are: Rugby Africa, formerly Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Asia Rugby, formerly Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Rugby Americas North, formerly North America Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Rugby Europe, previously Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur – Association Européenne de Rugby (FIRA-AER) Oceania Rugby, formerly Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU) Sudamérica Rugby, formerly Confederación Sudamericana de Rugby (South American Rugby Confederation, or CONSUR) SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby) is a joint venture of the South African Rugby Union, New Zealand Rugby, Rugby Australia and the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) that operates Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship (formerly the Tri Nations before the entry of Argentina). Although UAR initially had no representation on the former SANZAR board, it was granted input into the organisation's issues, especially with regard to The Rugby Championship, and became a full SANZAAR member in 2016 (when the country entered Super Rugby). National unions oversee rugby union within individual countries and are affiliated to WR. Since 2016, the WR Council has 40 seats. A total of 11 unions—the eight foundation unions of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France, plus Argentina, and —have two seats each. In addition, the six regional associations have two seats each. Four more unions—,