Abbreviation QUK Location United Kingdom Vice-President James Burnett | Formation 2011 President Melanie Piper | |
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Legal status Non-Profit Organisation | ||
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. 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, to set up matches and new teams.
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History and internal structure
Since its humble beginnings, QuidditchUK has become vastly developing organisation as, after hosting the Summer Games 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.
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.
QuidditchUK has a president (initially entitled Chairman):
The organisation also has a Vice President:
The organisation also has an Executive Management Team:
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.
Previous competitive structure
The first British Quidditch Cup was held on 9–10 November 2013, at University Parks in Oxford, England with 16 teams competing. The host team, Oxford's Radcliffe Chimeras, won the trophy, beating Avada Keeledavra in the final with Bangor's Broken Broomsticks placing third. The Second BQC was held at Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, Nottingham on 7–8 March 2015 and was won by Southampton Quidditch Club 1.
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.
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 which will include the two regional tournaments known as The Northern Cup and The Southern Cup. These regional tournaments are verified by QUK and the teams who compete here, or at two other QUK sanctioned events, 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.
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.
Recognition as a sport
QUK aims to be recognised by Sports England by 2020. The organisation will potentially explore BUCS recognition.
Teams
These are the teams involved with UK Quidditch listed as they appear in QuidditchUK's team directory:
Currently actively competing Quidditch teams:
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 the competition. In 2015 and 2016 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 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 will once again be competing in the IQA World Cup, formerly known as the Global Games, in the host city of Frankfurt, Germany.