Boathouse Sports has confirmed that it will be the official sponsor of this year’s Atlantic Cup.

The Atlantic Cup is a tournament jointly organized by Wilmington RFC & the University of Delaware RFC. This summer will mark the 40^th anniversary of the competition, and it will be hosted at Lewes, Delaware on the weekend of August 18^th & 19^th.

Boathouse has sponsored the tournament for the past two summers. As before, Boathouse will offer a free set of jerseys to the winning team in the Men’s Premier division.

Aside from the Men’s Premier bracket, there is a Men’s Open division, an Old Boys division, and a Women’s division.

Wilmington club president Kevin Barry said that the tournament organizers were glad to have Boathouse back on board as sponsors.

“Boathouse has been very good to us in terms of sponsorship over the last few years. They have shown a deep commitment, not just to our club, but to the sport of rugby in general. They supplied the gear for four of the teams at the CRCs this year, & provided hundreds of free t-shirts to the fans of Delaware, Penn State, Notre Dame & Temple at the event. So we are excited that they want to work with us again, and we think their offer of a free set of jerseys will make our Men’s division very competitive.”

Barry believes that this year’s tournament will be bigger and better than ever before.

“We think the tournament will be more exciting this year because we have had teams sign up that traditionally have not played in our tournament. Village Lions will play in the Men’s division, for example & the Norfolk Storm have signed up for the Women’s division, and these are teams we have not had before. Given that most of our regular teams are also returning, it should provide an extra edge and allow teams to play against clubs that normally aren’t on their schedule.”

The tournament organizers believe their Old Boy division will be particularly strong, and say they expect a few more teams to sign up for this bracket before the deadline.

While Boathouse will be the main sponsors of the tournament, Barry said that other companies have also offered prizes that should add to the excitement of the weekend.

“World Rugby Shop have given us two $50 gift vouchers, which we will offer as a prize for the best male & best female goal-kicker. Rugby Imports have donated some rugby balls to be raffled off, including one of their “Hero” balls. The “Hero” is a quirky, greatly oversized rugby ball, and I think it will catch a lot of people’s attention.”

Tournament organizers are still welcoming teams that want to sign up for the tournament. Further information can be found on Wilmington’s website.