QuidditchUK

QuidditchUK
Abbreviation QUK
Formation 2011
Legal status Non-Profit Organisation
Location
President
 Melanie Piper
Vice-President
 James Burnett
Website www.quidditchuk.org

QuidditchUK is the official governing body of quidditch in the United Kingdom, and affiliated with the International Quidditch Association. Its current president is Melanie Piper, and the Vice President is James Burnett.[1] It began in 2011 as a Facebook group intended to act as a network for quidditch teams and players within the UK to communicate with each other, become aware of local teams and resources,[2] to set up matches and new teams.

History and internal structure

Since its humble beginnings, QuidditchUK has become vastly developing organisation as, after hosting the Summer Games[3] in August 2012, there was a massive growth of quidditch teams throughout the country. It was at this point that QuidditchUK decided to advance from a network for UK teams and players, to become an established governing body of quidditch in the UK. They have a membership target of 1800 individual members which they plan to meet by the 2016/17 season; this is based off the previous growth the membership has seen.[4]

A staffing structure was set up whose aim would be to develop and promote quidditch in the United Kingdom. They have pledged Event Coordinators to assist with the running of QUK sanctioned and official events; this will also see an increase in Medical support and a new policy addressing health and safety.[4]

QuidditchUK has a president (initially entitled Chairman):

QuidditchUK Presidents
Duration of presidency Name Previous position within QuidditchUK
2011-2013 (Chairman) Robert Barringer
2013-2014 Ben Morton[5] member of Gameplay department
2014-2015 Amy Maidment[6] Assistant Marketing Director
2015- Mel Piper[7] Teams Director

The organisation also has a Vice President:[8]

QuidditchUK Vice-Presidents
Duration of vice presidency Name Previous position within QuidditchUK
2012-2015 Matthew Guenzel[9] Head of Gameplay
2015- James Burnett[10] Gameplay Director

The organisation also has an Executive Management Team:

Executive Management Team roles July 2015[4] September 2016[11]
Finance Director Megan Snape
Gameplay Director James Burnett Tom Challinor
Human Resources Tamara Morriss
Marketing Director Sarah Dorricott
QUK Media Director Alex Greenhalgh
Teams Director Andrew Cooke Scarlet Hughes
Technology Director Zoë Ford
Communications Director Simon Bidwell

The staff of QUK is currently composed of volunteers within the Quidditch community. By August 2018 QUK aims to have three paid employees if finances allow: President, Vice President and Financial Director.

A Board of Trustees is being introduced from 2016 that would see 50% of the Trustees elected into positions in 2018.[4]

Board of Trustees
2015
Ex Officio Trustee Melanie Piper
Ex Officio Trustee Matthew Gunzel
Ex Officio Trustee Megan Snape

Events

Previous competitive structure

The first British Quidditch Cup was held on 9–10 November 2013, at University Parks in Oxford, England[12] with 16 teams competing.[4] The host team, Oxford's Radcliffe Chimeras, won the trophy, beating Avada Keeledavra[13] in the final with Bangor's Broken Broomsticks placing third. The Second BQC[14] was held at Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, Nottingham on 7–8 March 2015 and was won by Southampton Quidditch Club 1.[14]

QuidditchUK operated a 'Challenge Shield' league event which ran 2014-2015; beginning with a mini-season from its inception in August 2014 through to the end of November 2014. This competitive format was phased out in 2015 in favour of two regional competitions occurring in the Autumnal months for the following year's national tournament held in the Spring.[15]

Current competitive events and structure

Currently there are various regional competitions established by both the International Quidditch Association (IQA) and QUK who have aim to offer at least six official tournaments by the 2017/18 season[4] which will include the two regional tournaments known as The Northern Cup[16] and The Southern Cup.[17] These regional tournaments are verified by QUK and the teams who compete here, or at two other QUK sanctioned events,[18] are seen to go onto the national tournament which is the British Quidditch Cup. QUK

Additional tournaments in the UK, both current and historical include:

Fantasy tournaments also occur, the first being Mercian Cup in Derby summer of 2013.[4]

QUK have said that they aim to draw 25% of the overall annual revenue from events to fulfil financial obligations as a governing body of the sport.

Resources and Officials

QUK aim to increase the number and quality of the officials within QUK with officials referring to positions including referee, time keeping, snitching and scorekeeping. From discussions with the International Referee Development Programme the aim is for all officials to be certified. To assist with this mock tests and additional resources as well as the standardized training packages and snitch training academies that the organisation offers every season.[4] By 2018 they predict to have all member clubs providing a fully qualified referee team to expand the number of officials and assist with running of tournaments.[4]

Recognition as a sport

QUK aims to be recognised by Sports England by 2020. The organisation will potentially explore BUCS recognition.[4]

Teams

These are the teams involved with UK Quidditch listed as they appear in QuidditchUK's team directory:[22]

Currently actively competing Quidditch teams:

  • Bangor Broken Broomsticks
  • Brizzlepuffs Quidditch Club
  • Cambridge University Quidditch Club
  • Chester Centurions
  • Derby Union Quidditch Club
  • Durham University Quidditch Club
  • Flying Chaucers
  • HogYork Horntails
  • Holyrood Hippogriffs
  • Huddwart Lions
  • Keele University Quidditch Club
  • Kinlochleven Midges
  • Leeds Griffins
  • Leicester Thestrals
  • Liverpuddly Cannons
  • Loughborough Longshots
  • Manchester University Quidditch Club
  • Norwich Nifflers
  • Nottingham Nightmares
  • Oxford University Quidditch Club
  • Portsmouth Horntail Strikers
  • Preston Poltergeists
  • Reading Rocs
  • Sheffield Quidditch Club
  • Southampton Quidditch Club
  • SQC
  • St Andrews Snidgets
  • Taxes Quidditch
  • The London Unspeakables
  • The Swansea Seven Swans
  • Tremough Quidditch Club
  • University of Exeter Quidditch Club
  • Velocirapters Quidditch Club
  • Warwick Quidditch Club
  • Werewolves of London


European competition

UK teams were invited to the European Regional Championships, organized by the IQA, in Parc du Woluwé, Brussels, at the start of February 2014. Two British teams, both representing Oxford University Quidditch Club were able to attend: the Oxford Quidlings, and the British Champions, The Radcliffe Chimeras, who won[23] the competition. In 2015[24] and 2016[25] the teams with the best performances at the national tournament BQC qualified those teams on to compete in the European Quidditch Cup.

National team

QuidditchUK also plays hosts to Team UK[26] which represents the UK in international quidditch tournaments. The team made its debut in 2012 at the Summer Games in Oxford where it placed 5th of 5 teams. Team UK travelled to Burnaby, B.C., Canada for the 2014 IQA Global Games to compete and ranked 4th. In 2015 Team UK competed in the inaugural European Games held in Sarteano, Italy placing second behind France, after a close final that ended 90*-50. In July 2016 Team UK[27] will once again be competing in the IQA World Cup, formerly known as the Global Games, in the host city of Frankfurt, Germany.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "QuidditchUK - About". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  2. ↑ "Hooch Iniative QuidditchUK" (PDF). quidditchuk.org. 2015. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  3. ↑ "British Quidditch Cup History". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "QuidditchUK Strategic Plan 2015- 2018" (PDF). quidditchuk.org/files/QuidditchUK_Strategic_Plan.
  5. ↑ "First 'Quidditch' British Cup held in Oxford". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  6. ↑ "QuidditchUK - Interview with Amy Maidment, President". www.quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  7. ↑ "QuidditchUK - president". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  8. ↑ "QuidditchUK - About". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  9. ↑ "THE QUIDDITCH POST: BREAKING: Guenzel & Cooke Depart QUK; Give Exclusive Statement". quidditchpost.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  10. ↑ "THE QUIDDITCH POST: Interview With James Burnett, New QUK Vice-President". quidditchpost.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  11. ↑ "QuidditchUK - About". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  12. ↑ "BBC News - First 'Quidditch' British Cup held in Oxford". BBC Online. Retrieved 25 November 2013. In total 26 matches for the inaugural national tournament took place in the University Parks grounds. Chairman of Quidditch UK Ben Morton said this was "the biggest Quidditch tournament outside America".
  13. ↑ "Oxford Quidditch Club". www.ouqc.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  14. 1 2 "BQC 2014-15 Overall Result" (PDF). QuidditchUK. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  15. ↑ "QuidditchUK - Calendar". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  16. ↑ "QuidditchUK - Northern Cup 2015". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  17. ↑ "QuidditchUK - Southern Cup 2015". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  18. ↑ "QuidditchUK - British Quidditch Cup 2015-16". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  19. ↑ "QuidditchUK - Highlander Cup II". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  20. ↑ Perryman, Francesca (2016-04-25). "The Quidditch Cup spreads its magic across University of Reading". getreading. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  21. ↑ "THE QUIDDITCH POST: L Tournament Review". quidditchpost.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  22. ↑ "QuidditchUK - Clubs". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  23. ↑ "Chimeras Take Europe".
  24. ↑ "eqc2016". eqc2016. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  25. ↑ "eqc2016". eqc2016. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  26. ↑ "QuidditchUK - TeamUK". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  27. ↑ "QuidditchUK - TeamUK". quidditchuk.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  28. ↑ "International Quidditch Association". www.iqaquidditch.org. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
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