 | |
| Abbreviation | QC, QuidCan |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2014 |
| Type | National sport organization (NSO) |
| Legal status | Non-Profit Organization |
| Headquarters | Ottawa |
| Location | |
Main organ | International Quidditch Association |
| Website | Official Quidditch Canada website |
Quidditch Canada is the governing body that oversees quidditch within Canada under its mother organization, the International Quidditch Association. In August 2022, QC announced plans to rebrand with the new name Quadball in 2023. [1]
Quidditch Canada was founded July 1, 2014, to administer and organize the sport of quidditch in Canada after the relaunch of the original International Quidditch Association as US Quidditch. The organization is a Registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Association and has grown to include over 20 teams across the country.
Quidditch Canada is the National Governing Body for quidditch in Canada. There are director-led departments for Membership, Gameplay, Communications, Events, and Volunteers. The structure is expected to change slightly in the near future, potentially moving to a policy board governance model, in order to comply with regulatory requirements for recognition by Sport Canada and to enable better communication with members and engagement with volunteers.
With the advent of Quidditch Canada, there has been an increase in the number of teams across the country, enabling more play between Canadian teams. Teams from the US and Canada occasionally cross the border for tournaments in order to increase the diversity of competition. Canada is split into two regions, Eastern Canada and Western Canada, at the Ontario/Manitoba border. These regions feature annual regional championships and other tournaments, both official and fantasy, throughout the year. The highest level of competition is the annual Quidditch Canada national championship. The biggest annual Canadian fantasy tournament is the Canada Day Fantasy Tournament (CDFT), an open fantasy tournament held the weekend before Canada Day in Ottawa, Ontario.
| Year | Eastern Regionals | Western Regionals | Nationals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-2015 | Kingston, ON | Moose Jaw, SK | Burnaby, BC |
| 2015-2016 | Montreal, QC | Abbotsford, BC | Kingston, ON |
| 2016-2017 | Mississauga, ON | Surrey, BC | Victoria, BC |
| 2017-2018 | Oshawa, ON | Abbotsford, BC | Hamilton, ON |
| 2018-2019 | Oshawa, ON | Victoria, BC | Hamilton, ON |
| 2019-2020 | Guelph, ON | Surrey, BC | Edmonton, AB |
| 2021-2022 | Oshawa, ON | N/A | Edmonton, AB |
The first national championship was held in Burnaby, B.C. at Swanguard Stadium on March 28–29, 2015. This event attracted eight teams from across Canada, and included an exhibition game between McGill Quidditch and US Quidditch member team UBC Quidditch. The championship was won by the Avengers who beat McGill Quidditch 40*-30 in cold, wet, and muddy conditions.
Prior to 2015, the Eastern Canada Regional Championship, known at the time as the Canadian Cup, had often been considered the unofficial national championship for Canadian quidditch.
The 2016-2017 QC Nationals were held on April 1–2, 2017 at University of Victoria. This was Quidditch Canada's third national championship. Victoria is the home of Western Canada's original quidditch team, the UVic Valkyries. The championship was won by the Edmontors Aurors Quidditch Club who defeated the University of Guelph Gryphons, with Valhalla finishing third after defeating University of British Columbia ThunderBirds.
For both the 2017-2018 and 2018–2019 seasons the Nationals Championship was held in Hamilton, Ontario at two different venues. For the 2017–2018 season the host was Tim Horton's Field home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Followed by the 2018–2019 season in which McMaster University was the host. This was the first instance of the National championship remaining in not only the same region for 2 consecutive years but also the first instance of a repeat host city despite the change in venue.
| Team |  Kingston[2016] (15) |  [2017] (8) |  [2018] (17) | [2019] (15) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary Lightning | 9 | 5 | 2 | . |
| Canada's Finest Quidditch Club | 11 | . | 17 | 14 |
| Carleton Ravens | 7 | . | 11 | . |
| Edmonton Aurors | 9 | 1 | 7 | 6 |
| McGill Quidditch | 2 | . | 15 | 13 |
| Ottawa Otters | . | . | . | 1 |
| Queen's Quidditch Club | 5 | . | 5 | 7 |
| Royal City Quidditch | 12 | . | 11 | 9 |
| Ryerson Quidditch | 14 | . | . | . |
| SFU Quidditch | . | 7 | . | 15 |
| Club de Quidditch de l'Université de Montréal | 3 | . | 4 | . |
| University of British Columbia | . | 4 | 8 | . |
| University of British Columbia Quidditch Club | . | 8 | 14 | . |
| University of Guelph Gryphons | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| UTSC Phoenix | 13 | . | . | . |
| UTSG Centaurs | 11 | . | 6 | 11 |
| uVic Valkyries Quidditch Club | . | 6 | . | . |
| uOttawa Quidditch | 1 | . | 10 | 10 |
| Valfreyja Quidditch Club | . | . | 13 | 5 |
| Valhalla Quidditch | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Vancouver Storm Crows Quidditch Club | . | . | . | 3 |
| Waterloo Ridgebacks | 4 | . | 9 | 8 |
The 2014-2015 Eastern Canadian Regional Championship was held at 1000 Islands Sportsplex in Kingston, Ontario. It featured 16 teams from Ontario and Quebec playing against each other for rankings. The final game was McGill Quidditch over Carleton Quidditch with a score of 190-90*. McGill went on to attend the National Championship where they finished second.
The last event known as the Canadian Cup was on November 9, 2013, at Cherry Beach Fields in Toronto, Ontario. [2] It involved only teams from Eastern Canada as Western Canadian teams were invited to attend the Western Regional Championship along with teams from the western United States. The results from the tournament were: [3] [4] [5]
After Europe's bids were allocated followed European teams' inability to attend the World Cup, [6] Valhalla claimed Canada's additional bid after defeating Guelph University. [7]
Previous Canadian Cups were held on November 11, 2012, at Queen's University [8] and October 29, 2011, at Carleton University. [9] McGill University Quidditch was the regional champion for the 2012-2013 and 2011–2012 seasons. The 2011 Canadian Cup was also Canada's first quidditch tournament and featured eight teams, including one, St Lawrence University, from the United States.
The inaugural Western Canadian Regional Championship was held at the Yara Centre in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on February 1, 2015. This location was chosen due to facility availability and in an attempt to distribute travel costs more evenly between the teams, since the National Championship would be held in the lower mainland of BC. Only two teams were able to attend, the Winnipeg Whomping Willows and the Alberta Clippers. The Alberta Clippers won all three games with scores of 210-30*, 150-30*, and 260*-20. Both teams traveled to the National Championship joining the other western Canadian teams, SFU Quidditch, Vancouver Vipertooths, and University of Victoria Valkyries there.
Prior to the creation of Quidditch Canada, the region of Western Canada was grouped with the western United States for competitive purposes. The 2013-2014 Western US Championship was held in Tempe, AZ. [10] Western Canadian teams decided against travelling the distance and so did not participate in the 2013/2014 Western Regional Championship.
In the 2012/2013 season, the University of British Columbia's Thunderbirds, then Western Canada's only team, competed at the Western Regional Championships in Placer Valley, California. The team was eliminated on the first day, and so did not advance to bracket play. [11] [12]
In the 2011–2012 season, there were no regional championship requirements to attend the IQA World Cup. As such, the University of Victoria represented western Canada at IQA World Cup V in New York City.
Canada Day Fantasy Tournament (CDFT) is held yearly on the Sunday of the weekend before Canada Day in Ottawa, Ontario. It used by to be organized and hosted by a mix of players and volunteers from the Ottawa quidditch community. It is now organized by Quidditch Canada with the assistance of local volunteers. Fantasy tournaments feature teams constructed specifically for the tournament and composed of players from a multitude of regular-season teams. General Managers for the tournament select players for their team from a list of eligible participants. The latest CDFT was held on June 28, 2015. Due to weather and field conditions, some games were cut out of the event. The final was won by Jamie Lafrance's Baby Blue team.
The first CDFT happened on June 30, 2013, at Immaculata High School and featured six teams and over 100 athletes from across Canada and the United States. [13] The Blue Team/Team Broduce, led by General Manager Jamie Lafrance of uOttawa Quidditch, won CDFT 2013 with a victory over the Black Team/Hipster Horcruxes. [14]
Sudbury Quidditch Open Invitational: took place on September 19, 2015, at the Art Gallery of Sudbury in Sudbury, Ontario.
Perdue's Cup: An annual tournament open to all Quidditch Canada teams being held at the Festival of Wizardry, in Blyth, Ontario.
Alberta Games: The first annual Alberta Games took placed at the Edgemont Community Centre in Calgary on November 30, 2013. Three teams competed: University of Calgary, University of Alberta, and Central Alberta Quidditch. [15]
Canada's first quidditch teams were in Ontario and Québec, with McGill University being the oldest, [16] but there has been a rapid expansion of teams across the country, notably within Ontario, Québec, B.C., and Alberta. Member teams as recognized by Quidditch Canada for the 2018–2019 season were:
British Columbia
Alberta
Québec
| Ontario
|
Former teams or not registered for the Quidditch Canada 2019–2020 season
|
|
Unregistered teams, rumoured teams, or teams registered elsewhere include:
British Columbia
Alberta
Nova Scotia
| Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Newfoundland and Labrador
|
There has been a Canadian national roster set for three international events, the latest [17] being assembled for IQA Quidditch World Cup 2016, which was held in Frankfurt, Germany on July 23–24, 2016. This marked the first time that team selection and coordination were conducted through Quidditch Canada as the National Sport Organization.
The 2014 Canadian national team competed on July 19, 2014, at the Burnaby Lake sports complex in Burnaby, British Columbia against six other national teams: Belgium, France, Mexico, Australia, the UK, and the USA. [18] The Global Games was a biennial event run by the International Quidditch Association that features national teams from quidditch-playing nations instead of collegiate or community teams. Canada took third place in the 2014 IQA Global Games following the United States and Australia, respectively.[1]
The first Team Canada was formed in 2012 to compete at the Summer Games in Oxford, UK [19] where the team placed 4th of 5 teams in the first tournament to feature national squads. Quidditch Canada hosted a second national team at the 2014 Global Games in Burnaby, BC [20] [21] on July 19. The 2014 national team was chosen after a rigorous series of tryouts.
The University of Ottawa held a quidditch coaching conference - the first of its kind - on October 5–6, 2013. Approximately 30 people, primarily coaches and captains from 15 different Canadian teams, gathered for a series of workshops to discuss and learn about coaching techniques and tactics. [22]
A coaching clinic was hosted in Edmonton on June 26, 2016. About 10 people participated from across Alberta to learn about coaching techniques, problem solving skills, and safety.
The restructuring of the IQA greatly impacted quidditch in Canada. In particular, while Quidditch Canada and US Quidditch have worked together to allow member teams of both organizations to play limited ranked games against each other, that structure still limited the overall quantity of games between members of each organization.
Kidditch is a modified version of quidditch made for children where there is limited contact and minor changes in the rules. Various teams across Canada have outreach programmes at local primary and secondary school where kidditch is played as an after-school programme. [23]
Quidditch, also known as quadball since 2022, is a team sport that was created in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont, United States, and was inspired by the fictional game of the same name in the Harry Potter books by the author J. K. Rowling. Two teams of seven players each, astride broomsticks and opposing each other on a rectangular pitch, compete with the primary objective of passing a ball through the defenders' hoops, while preventing their opponents from passing it through their own hoops. The real-world sport is sometimes referred to as "muggle quidditch" to distinguish it from the fictional game of the books, which involves magical elements such as flying broomsticks and enchanted balls — a muggle in the Harry Potter series being a person without magical abilities. The sport is played around the world.
The International Quidditch Association (IQA), also known as the International Quadball Association, is the governing body for the sport of quidditch. It was founded as the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association in 2009 following the very first intercollegiate quidditch match. In 2010, the IQA added the "international" term to its name, and 2016 saw its induction as an international sports federation with its creation of the Congress. It now comprises more than ten national associations governing quidditch in their respective nations.
The IQA World Cup VI was the 2013 edition of the IQA World Cup, a quidditch club tournament then organized by the International Quidditch Association. The tournament was hosted in Kissimmee, Florida from April 13–14, 2013.
QuadballUK is the official governing body of quadball in the United Kingdom and is affiliated with the International Quadball Association.
The US Quadball Cup, previously known as US Quidditch Cup, is a quadball tournament held in the United States and organized by US Quadball. The first US Quidditch Cup was held in 2007, and the tournament features collegiate and club teams from the United States. The tournament was formerly known as the IQA World Cup, but that name now refers to the international championship IQA World Cup.
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club (OUQC) is the quidditch club of both the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University. It is composed of two teams: a first team, the Radcliffe Chimeras, and a reserve second team, the Quidlings. Both teams are official QuidditchUK (QUK) teams. QUK is the UK quidditch governing body, and is a constituent part of the International Quidditch Association (IQA).
The Belgium national quidditch team, also known as the Belgian Gryffins, is the national team of Belgium in quidditch. The team was founded in 2014 upon the announcement of the 2014 IQA Global Games, the International Quidditch Association's second international tournament featuring national teams.
Quidditch Nederland, formerly known as Muggle Quidditch Nederland, is the official governing body of the sport quidditch in the Netherlands, and affiliated with the International Quidditch Association and its European Committee. Quidditch is a sport which combines elements of handball, dodgeball, and rugby, and is derived from the fictional sport of the same name from the Harry Potter series. Its current president is Marit Epskamp, and the vice-president is Jori Noordenbos. Quidditch Nederland, then Muggle Quidditch Nederland, was founded in 2014 by Jerona van der Gevel and Bram Vries as part of Quidditch Benelux.
The United Kingdom National Quidditch Team, colloquially known as Team UK, was the official national Quidditch team of the United Kingdom. Team UK made its debut in 2012 at the IQA Summer Games in Oxford, UK where it placed 5th of 5 teams. The team then played in Canada at the 2014 IQA Global Games in Burnaby, BC on July 29, 2014 where it placed 4th of 7 teams and in the European Games in Sarteano, Italy in July 2015, placing 2nd of 12. Team UK gained its first medals at the IQA World Cup 2016 in Frankfurt on July 23–24, 2016, finishing 3rd out of 21 teams. In 2017 the team gained its first international trophy, winning the IQA European Games, beating France in the final. Team UK's final tournament appearance was a 3rd place medal at the 2019 IQA European Games in Bamberg.
Belgian Quidditch Federation, or BQF, is the governing body of quidditch in Belgium. It was founded in 2012 as a Facebook page to garner interest from potential players and teams within Belgium and began to take shape in 2013 with the introduction of its first two teams: Deurne Dodo's and the Brussels Qwaffles. The organisation began to take shape as a non-profit in early 2014 with the formation of the newly-international International Quidditch Association in the form an international federation. Belgian Quidditch Federation maintains one delegate within the IQA Congress as a member of Quidditch Europe alongside Quidditch Nederland (QNL) and the Luxembourgish Quidditch Federation (FLQ). On 10 October 2014, BQF changed its name from Belgium Muggle Quidditch to its current name to better integrate with other sports in the country.
Quidditch, also known as Quadball, in Australia is played by a mixture of university and community teams. Due to the geographic demographics of the country, most major competitive tournaments are held in the eastern states. There are currently over 30 registered teams in the country.
The Canadian national quidditch team made its debut in 2012 at the IQA Summer Games in Oxford, UK, where it placed 4th of 5 teams. The team once again represented Canada at the 2014 IQA Global Games in Burnaby, BC on July 29, 2014 where it took third place, coming behind the United States and Australia, respectively.
The IQA World Cup is an international quidditch tournament contested by the national teams of the members of the International Quidditch Association, the sport's global governing organisation. The championship, which was named Summer Games and Global Games in its first two editions, has been awarded every two years since 2012. The current champions are the United States, who defeated Germany in 2023, after having also beaten Belgium back in 2018.
Quidditch is a growing team sport in Canada. Due to its relative youth within the sports scene of Canada, adoption is not as widespread as other sports such as rugby or ultimate. However, adoption is picking up with additional university and community teams each year. As a result of its inclusivity and its many niche styles of play, a wider spectrum of individuals are drawn to this sport than other mainstream sports. For the moment, the majority of teams are based in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, but teams are rapidly starting up in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. Quidditch Canada is the governing body for the sport across the country; there are no associations within Quidditch Canada that govern provincially/territorially.
The IQA European Games (EG) are the biennial games for the sport of quidditch held in Europe where national governing bodies send national teams to compete. The European Games were created in response to the IQA World Cup, the biennial tournament wherein nations from around the world compete in a similar style to the FIFA World Cup. Both Games alternate years so in the off years regional tournaments such as the European Games or the Asian Quidditch Cup can occur. These games are the highest level of championships in quidditch aside from Global Games. The 2015 champions were Team France, narrowly beating Team UK.
The 2014 IQA World Cup, known at the time as the Global Games, was the second edition of the international team quidditch championship. It was played in Burnaby, Canada, and the United States won the tournament for the second time in a row, winning 210*–0 over Australia in the final.
The IQA World Cup VII was the 2014 edition of the IQA World Cup, a quidditch club tournament then organized by the International Quidditch Association. The tournament was held in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from April 5–6, 2014.
The United States national quidditch team is the official quidditch team of the United States. The team is regulated by US Quidditch and is a national member of the International Quidditch Association. The team has won the most IQA World Cup titles, winning the 2012, 2014, and 2018 titles. The USNT only competes in events once every two years; at the IQA World Cup, as it is geographically ineligible for the only other current international Quidditch event; the IQA European Games.
U Sports women's volleyball is the highest level of amateur play of indoor volleyball in Canada and operates under the auspices of U Sports. 42 teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic conferences, drawing from the four regional associations of U Sports: Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CW), Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), and Atlantic University Sport (AUS). Following intra-conference playoffs, eight teams are selected to play in a national tournament to compete for the U Sports women's volleyball championship.
The Scottish national quadball team is the official national quadball team of Scotland. The team, which is organised by QuadballUK, was founded in 2018 and made its tournament debut at the 2019 IQA European Games in Bamberg.
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