Euroleague (EUWRL) suspended indefinitely.
A new underwater rugby league will begin competing this weekend at the Bellahøj Swimstadium in Copenhagen. The competition will fill the hole created by the demise of the Euroleague (EUWRL). Halted by the Covid pandemic after 7 seasons of competition, the EUWRL had prepared to resume play only to be derailed by the Russia-Ukraine war. The Moscow based non-profit underwater rugby promoter and member clubs could not overcome the additional difficulties that arose as a result.
Anton Churzin, co-founder of the Euroleague in 2011, said that he and partner Victor Krylov, had been willing to transfer the league to some alternative European based management. However, the Euroleague (EUWRL) and the organizers of the new league did not come to any agreement.
“Actually Manuel [Tito de Morais, the sport’s top referee] started reaching out initially scoping interest amongst former EUWRL managers,” explained Flipper spokesman Martin Kjeldgaard. “Important was that it was not a replacement but substitute until league could return some day.”
The new Underwater Rugby League—called UWRL for the time being—will initially broadcast 9 matches over Saturday and Sunday, October 8-9. The 6 participating clubs: Flipper, Krefeld, Malmö Triton, Molde, Polisen and Tudserne, were all members of the Euroleague. Tudserne won the league once (2017-18) while Molde were champions 6 times. The new league will not feature any clubs from Finland, Russia or Turkey. Malsch, a top German club that competed in the Euroleague, opted not to take part.
One big difference with the new league is that all rounds will take place at the same venue, Bellahøj Swimstadium in the Danish capital. Copenhagen enjoys a geographic advantage in that teams from the Nordic countries and Germany can travel a similar distance. The pool is cost free, easy to book and is a good size for rugby.
Although a few top women managed to play sporadically in the Euroleague on mixed teams, there was no dedicated competition for all-women teams. The new league will feature women’s teams beginning with the second round. At this point the likely participants will be from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
“For this there is so far only the opinion that all the interested teams are extended national teams,” explained Kati Vehlow, the German women’s national coach.
Even though Germany still has a functioning women’s league, Vehlow did not consider them ready for the same pure club format as the men.
“At the club level, we probably won’t get it done,” she said, “In Germany, at least, that is the situation.”
The Euroleague was very expensive for the players and their clubs. The new league has not fixed the cost of participation yet.
“Cost is still a question to be solved,” said Kjeldgaard, “Surely less than the Euroleague (with less tech and tech support). We have accepted to get going and split actual costs afterwards.”
The new league’s underwater television production will be handled by the Gotland diving club Bottenskraparna. The primary camera operator and chief producer is Hanse Sandblom.
“The first round will be a light version and just a test to see what we can do to improve the quality in the future,” said Sandblom. “It will be cool to what we can make of it. It will be fun to see what we can achieve, hopefully the teams take it as seriously as the Euroleague in terms of quality of players and the matches.”
The organizers invited the Turkish club Ege University to join the new league, but they declined.
“We didn’t join the new league because three rounds is very difficult economically for us,” said Euroleague veteran Hakan Toğar, adding that his club still planned to play in Champions Cup in Berlin.
Betta, Russia’s top club, will not take part. According to Victor Krylov, Betta received no invitation. Krylov and other Russian players have long participated in Finnish league play as foreign free agents. Finnish domestic league rules set a cap on the number of foreign player per club. Now, however, Russian have difficulties visiting Finland to play sports. One solution may be to travel to Turkey to play, revealed Krylov.
Ekin Koç, another Turkish Euroleague veteran, confirmed that there had been discussions.
Fans can tune into the new league’s YouTube broadcast here on Saturday and here on Sunday.