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The Northern and Southern Cups are the two major regional quidditch tournaments of the United Kingdom. Organised by QuadballUK, the tournaments serve both as qualification prerequisites for other tournaments, such as the European Quidditch Cup[1] and the British Quidditch Cup alongside being their own stand alone tournaments. Regionals are often considered the most important tournaments of the year after the British Quidditch Cup and they serve as qualifiers for the latter tournament. Those teams that fail to qualify for BQC each season compete in the Development Cup instead. From 2021 onwards the tournaments have been held as a series of one-day fixtures exclusively for university teams with the equivalent Community League tournament held for community teams.
Locations of the Northern (blue) and Southern (red) Cups
The idea for a regional tournament originally came from Southampton Quidditch Club, who devised an independently organised Southern Cup, which was due to take place in February 2014. Inspired by this, Keele Quidditch Club created a counterpart "Northern Squirrel Cup" open to all the teams who were not invited to the Southern Cup (on the basis of geographical location). Due to adverse weather conditions, the Southern Cup's expected debut was cancelled, but the Northern Cup went ahead as planned in March. Eight teams competed, with Bangor Broken Broomsticks winning the tournament after beating Nottingham in the final. The Southern Cup eventually went ahead in November of that year—the next quidditch season—where another eight teams competed. Southampton, the hosts, were defeated in the final by Radcliffe Chimeras.
Seeing the initial success of these tournaments, QuadballUK, the United Kingdom's governing body for quidditch, took both tournaments under their control, in time for the 2015–16 season. These tournaments were organised by QuadballUK and a committee selected by them, rather than by any specific club. Similarly, no club officially hosted either tournament, though both locations were situated nearby to established QuadballUK teams. The Northern Cup was hosted at Belmont Community School in Durham on 31 October–1 November, while the Southern Cup took place at Horspath Athletics Ground in Oxford, on 14–15 November. The latter had played host to several tournaments in the past, including the 2015 European Quidditch Cup.
From 2016 onwards as there were now more teams in the United Kingdom than the British Quidditch Cup could support both the Northern and Southern Cups were used as qualifiers for it. From 2016 to 2019, the top 16 teams from each tournament moved on to BQC, with any teams who did not qualify eligible to compete instead at the Development Cup.
In 2021 following the Quidditch UK university-community split the format of both cups was changed. Instead of being single two-day knockout tournaments Northern and Southern now take place as series of two single day round-robin fixtures with only university teams competing. The new equivalent Community League following the same format but with three single day fixtures per season was set-up for community teams. The top 12 teams across both Northern and Southern qualify for the university tournament at the British Quidditch Cup, with the top 12 community teams across the Community League qualifying for the community BQC tournament. Development Cup is still held for any teams who do not qualify for BQC.
Qualification
Qualification for either tournament is based solely on the geographical location of the team, with no regard to experience or skill level. A theoretical horizontal line is drawn at latitude 52.632000 (52°37′55.2″), dictating that any teams based south of that line compete at the Southern Cup, and all north at the Northern Cup.[1] Up until 2021 there was no additional criteria and any team registered with QuadballUK was eligible to play. From the 2021/2022 season onwards, only teams affiliated with a university could compete at the Northern and Southern Cups and a separate UK-wide Community League was created for community teams.
Format
Traditionally, the tournaments have consisted of pool play, followed by bracket play, in a standard knockout tournament structure. The exact format however is flexible, due to the varying number of teams competing in each iteration of the cups. The top two teams from each group move through to the upper bracket while the rest play in the consolation bracket. In order to balance group play and allow for more representative bracket play a seeding system is used.
Seeding
All teams are split into three categories: first seeds, second seeds and unseeded teams. How teams are seeded depends on where they came at last years nationals and how many groups there are in the competition. Each group is randomly allocated a first and second seeded team, then the unseeded teams are randomly allocated a group.
The teams final standing in tournaments affects their seeding for the upcoming British Quidditch Cup. The top four teams are placed in the first seed, the fifth to eighth teams are second seeded, and any other qualifying teams are unseeded.
University/community team split and new format
For the 2021/2022 season and onwards, the format of the Northern and Southern Cups was changed. University and community teams would no longer compete together with there now being a separate Community League for teams not affiliated with a university. This meant that only university teams would now compete at Northern and Southern. In addition, the format of both tournaments was changed. Teams now compete in either two or three (depending on the number of teams attending) divisions within their region, with each division having 4-6 teams in it. Each cup is now split across two different 1 day events instead of being a singular 2 day tournament. Teams play a round-robin event within their division during each fixture and are ranked accordingly. Teams who place last in their division are relegated to the division below and teams who place first in their division are promoted to the division above for the next fixture. The final rankings after all fixtures are used to determine seedings and qualification for the British Quidditch Cup and European Qualifier Tournament.[2][3]
The first Northern Cup was held at Keele University in March 2014. Eight teams competed over the weekend with Bangor Broken Broomsticks being the eventual winners. The final standings were as follows:
Final standings
Position
Team
1st
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
2nd
Nottingham Nightmares
3rd
Keele Squirrels
4th
Loughborough
5th
Chester
6th
Leeds Griffins
7th
Derby QC
8th
HogYork Horntails
2015
The second Northern Cup was held on 31 October 2015 in Belmont. Fourteen teams competed after the withdrawal of the Preston Poltergeists. After two days of competitive games, composed of pool play and both upper and Consolation brackets,[7] the final standings were as follows:[8]
Upper bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Loughborough Longshots
90*
Holyrood Hippogriffs
10
Loughborough Longshots
30
Durhamstrang
70*
Durhamstrang
110
Leicester Thestrals
70*
Durhamstrang
50
Nottingham Nightmares
150*
Keele Squirrels
150*
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
50
Keele Squirrels
40
Nottingham Nightmares
130*
Third place
Nottingham Nightmares
180
Leeds Griffins
40*
Loughborough Longshots
130*
Keele Squirrels
70
Consolation bracket
Semi-finals
Final
Derby Union
100*
HogYork Horntails
40
Derby Union
100*
Chester Centurions
40
St Andrews Snidgets
0
Chester Centurions
60*
Final standings
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
1st
Nottingham Nightmares
Final
8th
Leeds Griffins
Quarters
2nd
Durhamstrang
Final
9th
Derby Union QC
LB final
3rd
Loughborough Longshots
Semis
10th
Chester Centurions
LB final
4th
Keele Squirrels
Semis
11th
St Andrews Snidgets
LB semi Finals
5th
Leicester Thestrals
Quarters
12th
HogYork Horntails
LB semi Finals
6th
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
Quarters
13th
Durham Direwolves
Group stages
7th
Holyrood Hippogriffs
Quarters
14th
Manchester Manticores
Group stages
2016
The third Northern Cup returned to Belmont on 12 November 2016. Twenty teams competed over the weekend. On the first day, five groups of four played each other, with the two highest ranked teams from each group moving into the upper bracket while the rest competed in the Consolation bracket. This was the first tournament to be used to qualify teams for nationals, with the top 16 teams invited to compete in the coming British Quidditch Cup. The results of the tournament were as follows:
Upper bracket
Play-in games
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Loughborough Longshots
90*
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
30
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
100*
Nottingham Nightmares
90
Loughborough Longshots
90
Durhamstrang
110*
Leeds Griffins
50
Durhamstrang
170*
Durhamstrang
30
Velociraptors QC
160*
Velociraptors QC
180*
Leicester Thestrals
0
Leicester Thestrals
140*
Manchester Manticores
70
Velociraptors QC
120*
Tornadoes QC
20
Third place
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
40
Loughborough Longshots
110^
Tornadoes QC
200*
Tornadoes QC
120
Consolation bracket
Play-in games
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
St Andrews Snidgets
90*
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
30
St Andrews Snidgets
10
Derby
50*
Derby
60
Sheffield
140*
Sheffield
130*
Chester
0
Sheffield
30
HogYork
220*
HogYork
170*
Liverpool
0
Liverpool
240*
Preston
0
HogYork
130*
Keele Squirrels
70
Durham Direwolves
40*
Keele Squirrels
110
After bracket play had finished, two more matches were played between the four quarter-finals losers in order to rank the 15th–18th places:
Chester
130*
20
St Andrews Snidgets
Direwolves
90*
10
Liverpool
Final standings
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
1st
Velociraptors QC
Final
9th
Nottingham Nightmares
UB play ins
17th
Liverpuddly Cannons
BQC playoffs
2nd
Durhamstrang
Final
10th
Manchester Manticores
UB play ins
18th
St Andrews Snidgets
BQC playoffs
3rd
Tornadoes QC
Semis
11th
York
LB Finals
19th
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
LB play ins
4th
Loughborough Longshots
Semis
12th
Sheffield QC
LB finals
20th
Preston
LB play ins
5th
Bangor
Quarters
13th
Derby QC
LB Semi Finals
6th
Leeds Griffins
Quarters
14th
Keele Squirrels
LB Semi Finals
7th
Leicester Thestrals
Quarters
15th
Durham Direwolves
LB Quarter Finals
8th
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
Quarters
16th
Chester
LB quarter Finals
2017
The fourth Northern Cup was held at Sheffield Hallam Sports Park on 25–26 November 2017. Twenty-five teams competed over the weekend. Velociraptors Quidditch Club were the champions for the second time in a row.[9]
Final standings
Position
Team
Position
Team
Position
Team
1st
Velociraptors
10th
Leicester Thestrals
19th
Glasgow Grim Reapers
2nd
York Horntails
11th
Manchester Manticores
20th
Liverpuddly Catapults
3rd
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
12th
Chester Centurions
21st
Derby Deamons
4th
Tornadoes QC
13th
Nottingham Nightmares
22nd
Preston Poltergeists
5th
Loughborough Longshots
14th
Liverpuddly Cannons
23rd
Northumbrian Ridgebacks
6th
Keele Squirrels
15th
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
24th
Manchester Minotaurs
7th
Leeds Griffins
16th
Sheffield Steelfins
25th
Sheffield Sealions
8th
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
17th
Durhamstrang
9th
Sheffield Squids
18th
St Andrews Snidgets
2018
The fifth Northern Cup was held at Sheffield Hallam Sports Park on 10–11 November 2018. Twenty-two teams competed over the weekend. On the first day, 2 groups of five and three groups of four played each other, with the top 12 ranked teams overall moving into the upper bracket, with 8 further teams playing play-in matches, with the losers joining the final two teams in the Consolation bracket. The top 16 teams were invited to compete in the upcoming British Quidditch Cup; the unsuccessful teams would have another opportunity to qualify via the Development Cup. The top 5 teams were invited to EQT, the nationwide qualifying tournament for the upcoming European Quidditch Cup.[10] The results of the tournament were as follows:[11][12]
^ abThe snitch survived for 45 minutes and thus the game was decided on quaffle points alone.
Final standings
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
1st
Velociraptors QC
Final
9th
Leeds Griffins
Round of 16
17th
Loughborough Longshots
Consolation Final
2nd
Megalodons
Final
10th
St Andrews Snidgets
Round of 16
18th
Chester Centurions
Consolation Final
3rd
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
Semi-final
11th
Durhamstrang
Round of 16
19th
Manchester Minotaurs
Consolation Semi-final
4th
Glasgow Grim Reapers
Semi-final
12th
Tornadoes QC
Round of 16
20th
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
Consolation Semi-final
5th
Liverpuddly Cannons
EQT Final
13th
York Horntails
Round of 16
21st
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
Consolation Play-in
6th
Manchester Manticores
EQT Final
14th
Leicester Thestrals
Round of 16
22nd
Sheffield Steelfins
Consolation Play-in
7th
Nottingham Nightmares
EQT Semi-final
15th
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
Round of 16
8th
Sheffield Squids
EQT Semi-final
16th
Derby Daemons
Round of 16
2019
The sixth Northern Cup was held at Sheffield Hallam Sports Park on 23–24 November 2019, making it the third Northern in a row to be held at that venue. Twenty teams competed over the weekend. On the first day, 5 groups of four teams each played each other. At the end of this group stage, the teams were all ranked 1-20 based on their performance. The top 4 ranked teams then played against each other (the team ranked 1st played against the team ranked 4th, 2nd played against 3rd), with this process then continuing for teams 5-8 and so on. This 'ranking bracket' stage, which took place over the end of day 1 and start of day 2 and allowed for teams to move up or down the rankings for the final 'play-in bracket' stage on the second day. This final stage consisted of each team playing two more games, effectively a 'semi-final' and then either a 'final' or 'consolation' match within each group of 4 rankings (1-4, 5–8, etc.). The top 15 teams qualified for the British Quidditch Cup in April 2020, however this tournament was later cancelled due to COVID-19.[13] The 2nd-to-7th ranked teams were invited to EQT, the nationwide qualifying tournament for the upcoming European Quidditch Cup.[14] Due to weather conditions the grass pitches at the venue were unable to be used resulting in all matches being played on 3G which affected the planned play-in stage. The results of the tournament were as follows:[15][9]
Group stage
Group A
Megalodons
80* - 10
Leicester Thestrals
Nottingham Nightmares
180* - 30
Manchester Minotaurs
Megalodons
190 - 30*
Nottingham Nightmares
Leicester Thestrals
200 - 40*
Manchester Minotaurs
Megalodons
230 - 30*
Manchester Minotaurs
Nottingham Nightmares
40 - 170*
Leicester Thestrals
Group B
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
190* - 0
Durhamstrang
Olympians Quidditch Club
210* - 0
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
110* - 130
Olympians Quidditch Club
Durhamstrang
20 - 50*
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
190* - 0
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
Olympians Quidditch Club
160* - 20
Durhamstrang
Group C
Velociraptors
270* - 0
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
York Horntails
150* - 10
Sheffield Steelfins
Velociraptors
320* - 0
York Horntails
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
190* - 20
Sheffield Steelfins
Velociraptors
300* - 0
Sheffield Steelfins
York Horntails
40 - 160*
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
Group D
Liverpuddly Cannons
90* - 80
Sheffield Squids
St Andrews Snidgets
70* - 30
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
Liverpuddly Cannons
200* - 40
St Andrews Snidgets
Sheffield Squids
130 - 80*
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
Liverpuddly Cannons
110 - 60*
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
St Andrews Snidgets
60 - 180*
Sheffield Squids
Group E
Leeds Griffins
30 - 120*
Loughborough Longshots
Glasgow Grim Reapers
20 - 100*
Chester Centurions
Glasgow Grim Reapers
120* - 40
Leeds Griffins
Chester Centurions
140* - 70
Loughborough Longshots
Glasgow Grim Reapers
60 - 90*
Loughborough Longshots
Leeds Griffins
10 - 140*
Chester Centurions
Ranking Stage
In each ranking bracket the participants of the second match would be the loser of a higher-ranked first match playing the winner of the next lower-ranked first match. For example, Chester Centurions lost against Velociraptors in their first match so they then played against Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts who won the next match down in the rankings. The exceptions to this are the winners of the highest-ranked first match (Velociraptors and Olympians Quidditch Club) and the losers of the lowest-ranked first match (Manchester Minotaurs and Sheffield Steelfins) in each ranking bracket who all did not play a second match.
^ abThe score was tied after the snitch catch resulting in the match going into overtime, however the score was still tied after the overtime period. This resulted in second overtime which ended immediately upon Durhamstrang scoring a goal.
Play-in Stage
As a result of the grass pitches not being used because of the weather, the play-in stage was significantly cut down. It was originally scheduled that all teams would compete in this stage to determine the final standings, however only half the planned number of matches were played and as a result some teams did not play any matches in this stage.
^The match did not actually take place as Durhamstrang forfeited the match.
Final standings
Position
Team
Position
Team
Position
Team
1st
Velociraptors
9th
Holyrood Hippogriffs Seconds
17th
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
2nd
Olympians Quidditch Club
10th
Loughborough Longshots
18th
Sheffield Steelfins
3rd
Holyrood Hippogriffs Firsts
11th
St Andrews Snidgets
19th
Manchester Minotaurs
4th
Megalodons
12th
Glasgow Grim Reapers
20th
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
5th
Leicester Thestrals
13th
Nottingham Nightmares
6th
Liverpuddly Cannons
14th
Leeds Griffins
7th
Chester Centurions
15th
York Horntails
8th
Sheffield Squids
16th
Durhamstrang
2021/2022
Due to COVID-19, the planned Northern Cup that would have taken place in November 2020 for the 2020/2021 season was cancelled. For the 2021/2022 season, the new format came in with only university teams competing and the tournament split into two different 1 day round-robin fixtures.
Northern 1
The first fixture took place at the Salford Sports Village in Manchester on the 8th November 2021. The tournament results were as follows:[16]
Division 1
Final standings
Placement
Team
W
L
Total Points Scored
Points From Goals
Snitch Catches
1st
Holyrood Hippogriffs
4
0
460
340
4
2nd
Leicester Thestrals
3
1
480
390
3
3rd
Liverpuddly Cannons
2
2
410
350
2
4th
Leeds Griffins
1
3
70
40
1
5th
Sheffield Squids
0
4
120
120
0
Sheffield Squids moved down to Division 2 for the second fixture.
Full Scores
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
Liverpuddly Cannons
120* - 10
Leeds Griffins
19:18
Holyrood Hippogriffs
100* - 30
Leicester Thestrals
20:31
Holyrood Hippogriffs
100* - 20
Sheffield Squids
20:07
Leicester Thestrals
140* - 0
Leeds Griffins
18:37
Liverpuddly Cannons
130* - 30
Sheffield Squids
18:20
Holyrood Hippogriffs
140* - 10
Leeds Griffins
18:58
Leicester Thestrals
150* - 40
Sheffield Squids
18:00
Liverpuddly Cannons
70 - 160*
Leicester Thestrals
18:00
Liverpuddly Cannons
90 - 120*
Holyrood Hippogriffs
26:36
Sheffield Squids
30 - 50*
Leeds Griffins
21:26
Division 2
Final standings
Placement
Team
W
L
Total Points Scored
Points From Goals
Snitch Catches
1st
Manchester Manticores
4
0
420
390
1
2nd
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
3
1
560
500
2
3rd
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
2
2
370
310
2
4th
York Horntails
1
3
190
130
2
5th
Durhamstrang
0
4
220
130
3
Manchester Manticores moved up to Division 1 for the second fixture.
Full Scores
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
York Horntails
50* - 200
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
24:30
Durhamstrang
110* - 150
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
29:46
York Horntails
50 - 90*
Manchester Manticores
18:00
Manchester Manticores
100 - 50*
Durhamstrang
18:00
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
160* - 70
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
29:08
Manchester Manticores
90 - 60*
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
30:14
York Horntails
70* - 20
Durhamstrang
21:23
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
120 - 40*
Durhamstrang
23:51
York Horntails
20 - 90*
Stirling Dumyat Dragons
18:00
Bangor Broken Broomsticks
80* - 140
Manchester Manticores
28:30
Northern 2
The second fixture was scheduled to take place in Edinburgh on the 26th February 2022, however it was cancelled due to the venue deeming the pitches unplayable. Spots for the upcoming EQC and BQC tournaments would be based on the results of the Northern 1 fixture.[17]
2022/2023
The first Northern fixture of the 2022/2023 season was on 12 November 2022 taking place in the North with the second fixture scheduled for 18 February 2023 taking place in either Scotland or the North East.[18]
Southern Cup
2014
The first Southern Cup was hosted by Southampton Quidditch Club on the 8–9 November. 8 teams competed over the weekend. The first day consisted of two groups of 4 teams each while the second day was a knockout. By the end of the weekend Oxfords Radcliffe Chimeras claimed gold, Southampton silver and London Unspeakables 3rd. The full brackets and final standings where as follows:
Bracket Play
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
340
Norwich Nifflers
0
Radcliffe Chimeras
210*
Falmouth Falcons
10
Reading Rocs
40
Falmouth Falcons
170*
Radcliffe Chimeras
140*
Southampton QC
30
Southampton QC
130*
Bristol Brizzlepuffs
0
Southampton QC
170*
London Unspeakables
20
Third place
London Unspeakables
70*
Oxford Quidlings
60
Falmouth Falcons
40
London Unspeakables
50*
Final standings
Position
Team
Stage
1st
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
Final
2nd
Southampton Quidditch Club
Final
3rd
London Unspeakables
Semis
4th
Falmouth Falcons
Semis
5th-8th
Bristol Brizzlepuffs
Quarters
5th-8th
Oxford Quidlings
Quarters
5th-8th
Norwich Nifflers
Quarters
5th-8th
Reading Rocs
Quarters
2015
The second Southern Cup was held on the 14th and 15 November at Horspath Athletics Track (oxford), was due to follow a similar structure to its northern counterpart.[19] However, due to technical issues the Consolation bracket had to be cancelled. Seventeen teams competed over the weekend with Oxfords Radcliffe Chimeras eventually claiming Gold. the upper bracket results are as follows:
Bracket play
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
130
Southampton QC 2
50*
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
90*
Brizzlebears
20
Brizzlebears
100*
Falmouth
90
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
130*
Warwick QC
90
Taxes QC
40
Warwick QC
130*
Warwick QC
80*
Southampton QC 1
30
Third place
Southampton QC 1
110*
Werewolves of London
10
Southampton QC
100*
Brizzlebears
0
Final standings
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
1st
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
Final
9th
Swansea Seven Swans
Groups
17th
Exeter Patronums
Groups
2nd
Warwick QC
Final
10th
Reading Rocs
Groups
3rd
Southampton QC firsts
Semis
11th
Cambridge University QC
Groups
4th
BrizzleBears
Semis
12th
Oxford Quidlings
Groups
5th
Falmouth Falcons
Quarters
13th
BrizzleBees
Groups
6th
Werewolves of London
Quarters
14th
Norwich Nifflers
Groups
7th
Southampton QC seconds
Quarters
15th
London Unspeakables
Groups
8th
Taxes Quidditch
Quarters
16th
Portsmouth Horntail Strikers
Groups
2016
The third Southern Cup took place on the 29–30 October at Millbrook Rugby Club in Southampton. 17 teams competed over the weekend with the top 16 qualifying for the coming British Quidditch cup. The weekend followed a similar structure to last years with day one being group stage and day to single elimination knockout. Due to only 16 teams qualifying for BQC a play in match between the two lowest seed teams after day one was played to distinguish 16th and 17th place. by the end of the tournament Warwick QC had claimed gold, the full bracket results and final standings where as follows:
Upper bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Werewolves of London
180
Portsmouth
30*
Werewolves of London
130*
BrizzleBears
40
BrizzleBears
140*
Swansea
40
Warwick QC
40*
Werewolves of London
20
Warwick QC
110*
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
30
Warwick QC
110*
London Unspeakables
0
Third place
London Unspeakables
110*^
Southampton QC Firsts
80
BrizzleBears
110*
London Unspeakables
30
Consolation bracket
Play-in games
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Oxford Quidlings
50
Southampton QC Seconds
130*
Oxford Quidlings
130*
The Flying Chaucers
60
Southampton QC Seconds
40
Exeter
110*
Exeter Eagles
50
Cambridge University QC
170*
Exeter Eagles
70*
Falmouth
120^
BrizzleBees
120*^
Reading Rocs
90
Falmouth
140
BrizzleBees
70*
Norwich
0
Falmouth
160*
Final standings
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
Position
Team
Stage
1st
Warwick QC
Final
9th
Falmouth Falcons
LB Final
17th
Flying Chaucers
LB play-ins
2nd
Werewolves of London
Final
10th
Exeter Eagles
LB Final
3rd
BrizzleBears
Semis
11th
Southampton QC Seconds
LB Semis
4th
London Unspeakables
Semis
12th
BrizzleBees
LB semis
5th
Southampton QC Firsts
Quarters
13th
Oxford Quidlings
LB Quarters
6th
Swansea Seven Swans
Quarters
14th
Cambridge University QC
LB Quarters
7th
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
Quarters
15th
Reading Rocs
LB Quarters
8th
Portsmouth
Quarters
16th
Norwich Nifflers
LB semis Quarters
2017
The fourth Southern Cup took place on the 11–12 November at Millbrook Rugby Club in Southampton. 21 teams competed over the weekend with the Top 15 qualifying for the coming British Quidditch cup. The weekend followed a similar structure to the format of previous years, with day one having group stage matches and day two containing single elimination playoffs. Due to only 15 teams qualifying for BQC, play in matches took place between the lowest seeded teams in the Lower Bracket to determine the teams that qualify. The tournament was won by Southampton QC Firsts. The full bracket results are as follows:
Upper bracket
Play-in games
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Werewolves of London
150
Exeter Eagles
30*
Bristol Bees
20
Exeter Eagles
130*
Werewolves of London
90*
Warwick QC
50
Warwick QC
70*
London Unspeakables
40
Southampton QC Firsts
140*
Werewolves of London
90
Southampton QC Firsts
130
Portsmouth Strikers
30*
Reading Knights
50
Portsmouth Strikers
70*
Southampton QC Firsts
130*
Bristol Bears
10
Third place
Radcliffe Chimeras
40
Warwick QC
120*
Bristol Bears
70*
Bristol Bears
30
Consolation bracket
Play-in games
Quarter-finals (BQC qualification)
Semi-finals
Final
Falmouth Falcons
W
London Unbreakables
FF
London Unbreakables
120*
Norwich Nifflers
70
Falmouth Falcons
160*
Cambridge University QC
40
Bath QC
70*°
Cambridge University QC
90°°
Falmouth Falcons
70*
Southampton QC Seconds
60
Southampton QC Seconds
120
Oxford Quidlings
10
Oxford Quidlings
W
The Flying Chaucers
FF
Southampton QC Seconds
70*
Swansea Swans
20
Swansea Swans
130*
Bournemouth Banshees
30
Bournemouth Banshees
W
Winchester Wampus
FF
2018
The fifth Southern Cup took place on 24–25 November at Knole Academy in Sevenoaks, Kent. 18 teams competed over the weekend, with the top 14 qualifying for the upcoming British Quidditch Cup. Furthermore, the top 7 teams would qualify for EQT, the nationwide qualifying tournament for the European Quidditch Cup. On the first day, two groups of five and two groups of four played each other. Unlike Northern Cup, there was no consolation bracket. Instead, all 18 teams would compete in the upper bracket, with the bottom 4 teams participating in play-in games. The tournament was won by the Werewolves of London.
^ abThe snitch survived for 45 minutes and thus the game was decided on quaffle points alone.
EQT play-offs
EQT play-offs
Fifth Place
Werewolves of London Seconds
160*
Bath Quidditch Club
30
Werewolves of London Seconds
30
Oxford Mammoths
120*
Oxford Mammoths
230*
Warwick Quidditch Club
10
Seventh Place/EQT play-off
Bath Quidditch Club
110*
Warwick Quidditch Club
100
BQC play-offs
Of the 8 Round of 16 losers, the bottom 4 were chosen to face off for the final two BQC spots.
Swansea Swans
230*
20
Southampton Quidditch Club Seconds
Norwich Nifflers
90
180*
Bristol Bears
2019
The sixth Southern Cup took place on 9–10 November at the Harcout Hill Campus at Oxford Brookes University. Sixteen teams competed over the weekend. On the first day, 4 groups of four teams each played each other. At the end of this group stage, each team would play a team from a different group that was ranked at the same level. For example, the top ranked team of group A (London Unspeakables) played against the top ranked team of group B (Werewolves of London Firsts). Teams that won this play-off played a team from the rank above them who lost their first match and vice versa. The exception were the losers of lowest-ranked play-off (Bournemouth Banshees and Bristol Bears) and the winners of the highest-ranked play-off (Werewolves of London Firsts and London Quidditch Club A) who did not play a second match in this stage. This 'ranking' stage took place over the end of day 1 and start of day 2. The final 'play-in' stage consisted of four team brackets, with the teams playing a 'semi-final' then either a 'final' or 'consolation' match within their bracket. Thus the top bracket of 4 teams was playing for 1st - 4th, the second bracket was playing for 5th–8th and so on. The teams that finished the tournament in the upper brackets qualified to compete at the British Quidditch Cup in April 2020, however this tournament was later cancelled due to COVID-19. In addition, the team that won the tournament, Werewolves of London Firsts, was immediately eligible to attend European Quidditch Cup Division 1. Any teams that finished in the lower brackets were eligible to play at the Development Cup which was held in Salford Sports Village on 7–8 March 2020.[20] The results of the tournament were as follows:[21]
Group stage
Group A
Placement
Team
W
L
1st
London Unspeakables
3
0
2nd
Warwick Quidditch Club
2
1
3rd
Southsea Quidditch Club
1
2
4th
Bristol Bears
0
3
London Unspeakables
180* - 40
Southsea Quidditch Club
Warwick Quidditch Club
130* - 20
Bristol Bears
London Unspeakables
160 - 50*
Warwick Quidditch Club
Southsea Quidditch Club
190* - 30
Bristol Bears
London Unspeakables
250* - 10
Bristol Bears
Southsea Quidditch Club
10 - 60*
Warwick Quidditch Club
Group B
Placement
Team
W
L
1st
Werewolves of London Firsts
3
0
2nd
Bath Quidditch Club
2
1
3rd
London Unbreakables
1
2
4th
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
0
3
Werewolves of London Firsts
210* - 0
Bath Quidditch Club
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
120 - 150*
London Unbreakables
Werewolves of London Firsts
240* - 0
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
Bath Quidditch Club
170* - 40
London Unbreakables
Werewolves of London Firsts
290* - 10
London Unbreakables
Bath Quidditch Club
160* - 70
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
Group C
Placement
Team
W
L
1st
London Quidditch Club A
3
0
2nd
Werewolves of London Seconds
2
1
3rd
London Unstoppables
1
2
4th
Swansea Swans
0
3
London Quidditch Club A
190 - 70*
Werewolves of London Seconds
London Unstoppables
70* - 30
Swansea Swans
London Quidditch Club A
180* - 20
London Unstoppables
Werewolves of London Seconds
130* - 10
Swansea Swans
London Quidditch Club A
230* - 0
Swansea Swans
Werewolves of London Seconds
130* - 30
London Unstoppables
Group D
Placement
Team
W
L
1st
Oxford Mammoths
3
0
2nd
Southampton Quidditch Club
2
1
3rd
London Quidditch Club B
1
2
4th
Bournemouth Banshees
0
3
Southampton Quidditch Club
150* - 70
London Quidditch Club B
Oxford Mammoths
200* - 20
Bournemouth Banshees
Southampton Quidditch Club
100* - 130
Oxford Mammoths
London Quidditch Club B
190* - 70
Bournemouth Banshees
Southampton Quidditch Club
120* - 0
Bournemouth Banshees
Oxford Mammoths
160* - 30
London Quidditch Club B
Ranking Stage
Ranking Bracket 1
Round 1
Round 2
Match Number
Team
Score
Match Number
Team
Score
1
London Unspeakables
20
9
London Unspeakables
140
Werewolves of London Firsts
100*
Southampton Quidditch Club
70*
3
Werewolves of London Seconds
80
11
Werewolves of London Seconds
90
Southampton Quidditch Club
90*
Southsea Quidditch Club
120*
5
Southsea Quidditch Club
170*
13
London Unbreakables
0
London Unbreakables
20
Swansea Swans
90*
7
Swansea Swans
140*
Bournemouth Banshees
10
Ranking Bracket 2
Round 1
Round 2
Match Number
Team
Score
Match Number
Team
Score
2
London Quidditch Club A
150
10
Oxford Mammoths
70*
Oxford Mammoths
50*
Warwick Quidditch Club
20
4
Warwick Quidditch Club
60*
12
Bath Quidditch Club
0
Bath Quidditch Club
20
London Quidditch Club B
100*
6
London Unstoppables
40
14
London Unstoppables
120*
London Quidditch Club B
60*
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
50
8
Bristol Bears
90
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
200*
Play-in Stage
Bracket 1 (1st - 4th)
Play-in
Final
Werewolves of London Firsts
150*
Oxford Mammoths
40
Werewolves of London Firsts
160°°
London Unspeakables
120*°
London Quidditch Club A
70
London Unspeakables
90*
3rd-place play-off
Oxford Mammoths
10
London Quidditch Club A
160*
Bracket 2 (5th–8th)
Play-in
5th-place play-off
Southampton Quidditch Club
90°*
London Quidditch Club B
60*°
Southampton Quidditch Club
170*
Southsea Quidditch Club
70
Warwick Quidditch Club
30
Southsea Quidditch Club
60*
7th-place play-off
London Quidditch Club B
140*
Warwick Quidditch Club
80
Bracket 3 (9th–12th)
Play-in
9th-place play-off
Werewolves of London Seconds
160*
London Unstoppables
60
Werewolves of London Seconds
150*
Swansea Swans
0
Bath Quidditch Club
70
Swansea Swans
130*
11th-place play-off
London Unstoppables
170*
Bath Quidditch Club
50
Bracket 4 (13th–16th)
Play-in
13th-place play-off
London Unbreakables
70
Bristol Bears
170*
Bristol Bears
100
Bournemouth Banshees
120*
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
40
Bournemouth Banshees
110*
15th-place play-off
London Unbreakables
80
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
170*
Final standings
Position
Team
Position
Team
1st
Werewolves of London Firsts
9th
Werewolves of London Seconds
2nd
London Unspeakables
10th
Swansea Swans
3rd
London Quidditch Club A
11th
London Unstoppables
4th
Oxford Mammoths
12th
Bath Quidditch Club
5th
Southampton Quidditch Club
13th
Bournemouth Banshees
6th
Southsea Quidditch Club
14th
Bristol Bears
7th
London Quidditch Club B
15th
Oxford Radcliffe Chimeras
8th
Warwick Quidditch Club
16th
London Unbreakables
2021/2022
Due to COVID-19, the planned Southern Cup that would have taken place in November 2020 for the 2020/2021 season was cancelled. For the 2021/2022 season, the new format came in with only university teams competing and the tournament split into two different 1 day round-robin fixtures.
Southern 1
The first fixture took place on 20 November 2021 at the King's House Sports Ground in London.[22] As only five teams were competing, only one division was used. The fixture results were as follows:[23][9]
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club (Radcliffe Chimeras)
1
3
-90
-70
2
5th
Bristol Bears
0
4
-320
-270
1
^Quaffle Point Difference - point differential between teams ignoring the 30 points from snitch catch. For example Warwick (110) had an 80 QPD against Bristol (60*) in their game, and Bristol had a -80 QPD against Warwick.
^Quaffle Point Difference Capped - QPD but capped to a maximum of 90 points/minimum of -90 points.
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
Warwick Quidditch Club
110 - 60*
Bristol Bears
18:00
Southampton Quidditch Club
110* - 50
Exeter Eagles
19:13
Warwick Quidditch Club
180* - 110
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
33:31
Southampton Quidditch Club
220 - 110*
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
41:23 (OT)
Bristol Bears
60 - 140*
Exeter Eagles
29:28
Warwick Quidditch Club
100* - 10
Exeter Eagles
18:18
Bristol Bears
20 - 100*
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
22:57
Southampton Quidditch Club
180* - 70
Bristol Bears
18:00
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
90 - 110*
Exeter Eagles
18:00
Southampton Quidditch Club
110* - 20
Warwick Quidditch Club
18:00
Southern 2
The second fixture was originally scheduled to take place on 20 February 2022 at the Cardiff City House of Sport in Cardiff, however it was postponed due to storm damage to the venue and instead took place on 12 March at the same location.[24] The fixture results were as follows:[25]
Placement
Team
W
L
QPD
QPD - C
Snitch Catches
1st
Southampton Quidditch Club
4
0
230
220
3
2nd
Exeter Eagles
3
1
190
190
1
3rd
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club (Radcliffe Chimeras)
2
2
-30
-30
3
4th
Warwick Quidditch Club
1
3
-160
-150
2
5th
Bristol Bears
0
4
-230
-230
1
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
Southampton Quidditch Club
130* - 20
Bristol Bears
20:30
Warwick Quidditch Club
100* - 130
Exeter Eagles
23:17 (OT)
Warwick Quidditch Club
90* - 110
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
28:23 (OT)
Southampton Quidditch Club
160* - 30
Warwick Quidditch Club
26:05
Exeter Eagles
130* - 30
Bristol Bears
19:56
Southampton Quidditch Club
100 - 90*
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
18:15
Warwick Quidditch Club
100 - 80*
Bristol Bears
19:28
Southampton Quidditch Club
130* - 90
Exeter Eagles
22:04
Exeter Eagles
100 - 60*
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
18:00
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club
110* - 50
Bristol Bears
23:49
2022/2023
The first Southern fixture of the 2022/2023 season is scheduled for 5 November 2022 taking place in the South West with the second fixture scheduled for 11 February 2023 taking place in the South.[18]
Community League
The Community League was started in 2021 after the Northern and Southern Cups were made into tournaments only for university quidditch teams. It acts as an
equivalent tournament for community teams. The format is the same as the updated Northern and Southern format, with teams divided into divisions of around 5 teams each that compete at multiple one day round-robin fixtures in a season. The relegation and promotion system is also the same with teams that place last in a fixture being relegated to a lower division and teams that place first being promoted to a higher one. The Community League has three fixtures per season (compared with the two fixtures per season for Northern and Southern) and final rankings after all fixtures are used to determine seedings and qualification for the British Quidditch Cup and European Qualifier Tournament.
2021/2022 Season
Fixture 1
The debut fixture of the Community League was planned to take place on 14 August 2021, however in June the decision was made to cancel this fixture to allow teams more time to prepare for full-contact games after social distancing regulations due to COVID-19 were relaxed. On 4 September, the first fixture was attended by 9 teams and took place at the Derby Rugby Football Club in Derby.[26][27] Due to a number of teams being unable to attend, this fixture was decided beforehand to have no effect on the rest of the competitive season. For example, there would be no promotions or relegations between divisions based on the tournament and the results would not be used for seedings for the British Quidditch Cup or European Qualifier Tournament. In addition, the originally planned three divisions was reduced to two based on the attendance numbers.[28] The full results were as follows:[29]
A second fixture took place on 9 October 2021 at King's House Sports Ground in London and was attended by 12 teams.[30] The originally planned three divisions were used at this tournament with 4 teams in each, teams competed in a round-robin before doing play-offs for 1st / 2nd place and 3rd / 4th place within each division to determine the final rankings.
The first Community League fixture of the season took place on 2 July 2022 at the All Hallows RC High School in Manchester with 10 teams competing in a round-robin over 3 divisions.[32][33] The fixture was originally scheduled to take place at the Salford Sports Village however due to a COVID outbreak at the venue the location was changed the day before the event.[34][35]
The full results were as follows (teams in italics did not attend the fixture):
Division 1
Placement
Team
1st
Werewolves of London Firsts
2nd
Olympians Quidditch Club
3rd
Velociraptors
4th
London Quidditch Club
5th
London Unspeakables(Relegated)
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
Werewolves of London Firsts
130* - 120
Olympians Quidditch Club
29:58
Velociraptors
30 -120*
Werewolves of London Firsts
20:11
Olympians Quidditch Club
110* - 90
Velociraptors
21:32
Division 2
Placement
Team
1st
Werewolves of London Seconds (Promoted)
2nd
Southsea Quidditch
3rd
Oxford Mammoths
4th
Kelpies Quidditch Club
5th
East Midlands Vipers(Relegated)
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
Oxford Mammoths
120 - 40*
Kelpies Quidditch Club
26:01
Werewolves of London Seconds
120* - 110
Southsea Quidditch
22:12
Southsea Quidditch
140 - 100*
Kelpies Quidditch Club
28:31 (OT)
Oxford Mammoths
80* - 130
Werewolves of London Seconds
22:35 (OT)
Oxford Mammoths
60 - 120*
Southsea Quidditch
21:55
Kelpies Quidditch Club
30 - 120*
Werewolves of London Seconds
20:40
Division 3
Placement
Team
1st
Phoenix Quidditch (Promoted)
2nd
Prometheans (Olympians Seconds)
3rd
West Country Rebels
4th
Birmingham Badgers
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
West Country Rebels
50 - 170*
Phoenix Quidditch
31:49
Prometheans
10 - 90*
Phoenix Quidditch
20:38
West Country Rebels
40 - 170*
Prometheans
22:37
Fixture 2
The second fixture took place on 13 August 2022 at the Derby Rugby Football Club in Derby with 13 teams competing over 3 divisions.[36] Due to extreme heat the event utilised the new IQA recommendations for water breaks.[37] The event also coincided with a national rail strike on the same day.[38]
The full results were as follows:
Division 1
Placement
Team
1st
Werewolves of London Firsts
2nd
London Quidditch Club A
3rd
Olympians Quidditch Club
4th
Werewolves of London Seconds
5th
Velociraptors (Relegated)
Team 1
Score
Team 2
Game Length
Olympians Quidditch Club
150* - 50
Velociraptors
21:49
Werewolves of London Firsts
170* - 20
Werewolves of London Seconds
22:00
Velociraptors
80* - 150
London Quidditch Club A
29:00 (OT)
Werewolves of London Firsts
120* - 40
London Quidditch Club A
20:55
Werewolves of London Seconds
70 - 160*
Olympians Quidditch Club
24:07
Velociraptors
100 - 120*
Werewolves of London Seconds
28:51
London Quidditch Club A
110 - 100*
Olympians Quidditch Club
28:36 (OT)
Werewolves of London Firsts
100* - 40
Olympians Quidditch Club
20:15
Werewolves of London Firsts
120* - 0
Velociraptors
Abandoned
London Quidditch Club A
210* - 50
Werewolves of London Seconds
20:33
Division 2
Placement
Team
1st
Phoenix Quidditch (Promoted)
2nd
Southsea Quidditch
3rd
Kelpies Quidditch Club
4th
Oxford Mammoths
Division 3
Placement
Team
1st
Prometheans (Olympians Seconds) (Promoted)
2nd
London Quidditch Club B
3rd
East Midlands Vipers
4th
West Country Rebels
Fixture 3
The third and final Community League fixture of the season took place on 17 September 2022 at the Farnham Common Sports Club in Slough with 14 teams competing over 3 divisions.[39]
