Everything was ready for the 18th North American Underwater Rugby Tournament in Islamorada Florida scheduled for this weekend Sept 9-10. But suddenly Hurricane Irma had different plans for the state of Florida and the UWR community in North America.

tournament cancelled

Organized by the Florida Keys Krakens the tournament was going to be a milestone in several aspects for our sport in the US. A woman’s UWR clinic was scheduled as an initial step for the preparation of a ladies team looking forward the next UW Rugby World Championship in Austria 2019. A record of 3 teams registered to a tournament by the same club, the first women’s tournament in the US with 4 teams and the participation of all active USA clubs. And last but not least a record of UWH ladies registered for the first time to give UW Rugby a try as a new sport.

Unfortunately everything had to be cancelled just a few days before the start of the tournament due the to the path of Hurricane Irma. Late on tuesday night a conference call took place between the organizers and the club representatives to take a decision on how to approach the cancellation and how it will impact the 2016-17 NAL League.

2016-17 Final NAL Standings

The 18th NAL tournament was the 4th tournament scheduled for the 2016-17 season after the rounds played in Newark, NJ (USA), East Haven, CT (USA) and Montreal, QB (Canada). The NAL committee decided to end the 2016-17 NAL season with the standings after the 17th. NAL. Rescheduling was out of the options since the following tournament 19th NAL tournament was already set and organized by the New Jersey Hammerheads for October 21-22, 2017.

With the cancellation of the18th NAL the winner of the 2016-17 NAL Season is the NUWR club from Newark, NJ with  11 points. The first runner-up was Boston UWR with 10 points, and the second runner-up Club CAMO from Montreal with 5 points.

The points from the NAL tournaments that took place in the US also gave the NUWR team the first place for US teams with 8 points, followed by Boston with 6 points and the third place to the Florida Krakens with 3 points. With these results the NUWR team has the first option to participate on the 2017 Champions Cup in Berlin scheduled for November of this year.

The 2016-17 NAL top scorer award goes to Flip Mundt (Boston UWR) with a total of 24 goals scored. First runner-ups are Bryan Mosquera (NUWR) and Cesar Florez (CAMO) with 21 goals followed by Juan Pablo Riomaña (NJ Hammerheads) with 18.

For all 2016-17 standings click here

New NAL season starting in October

The start of the 2017-18 NAL season brings many challenges and we hope to carry on and make a successful start with record club participation as well as making the Women’s Club tournament a reality. Registration is already open for the 19th North American Underwater Rugby Tournament – Newark 2017 scheduled for October 21-22 at the Ironbound Recreation Center in Newark, NJ and organized by the New Jersey Hammerheads.

A club representative conference call is scheduled for September 23rd. To set the parameters of the following season. The NAL committee hope our friends from the Florida Keys Krakens UWR to be safe after the events of hurricane Irma.

19th NAL tournament registration information available here