The (Unofficial) British Quidditch Championship Belt

Hi all,

bringing you a bit of a different kind of article today. The idea for this one comes from an article that featured in the Knowledge section of Guardian Sport in the Guardian a few months ago. The concept of the article looks at a hypothetical scenario in football where, instead of the familiar league structure, the Premier League organisers instead decided that the title of national champions would be passed on like a Championship Belt is in Boxing. Whoever beats the current 'belt' holders in a single match becomes the champion until they lose and the team that beats them is now the new champion (e.g. Manchester United are the current champions but if they lose to Chelsea then Chelsea become the new champions). Considering the history of the Premier League and the nature of football in which upsets happen frequently, the article created some interesting hypothetical scenarios so naturally it seemed like a good idea to apply this concept to quidditch.

While the history of UK quidditch (or the sport as a whole) isn't particularly extensive compared to the Premier League, we have gone back through the records and consulted with people in the community* to confirm results and have been able to trace the timeline of the UK unofficial championship belt. The belt starts all the way back from the very first competitive quidditch match played in the UK between Keele Squirrels (known as Avada Keeldarvra at the time) and the Leicester Thestrals (formerly known as the Leicester Lovegoods), and proceeds all the way through to the 2019/2020 QuidditchUK season when play was cancelled due to the global pandemic. For the sake of entertainment, matches from both official and unofficial tournaments and fixtures are included in the belt's timeline so results from tournaments such as the Hateful 8 (hosted by Warwick QC) and Battle Royale (hosted by Southampton QC) are considered part of this scenario. Matches played at the European Quidditch Cup are also included however the belt has only ever been up for grabs when the current holders face another UK team otherwise the title would've disappeared off to Paris Titans a long time ago.   

*= we hope our sources are reliable but if you spot any errors in the timeline. Do let us know and we will seek to alter this articles and the results it has produced

Anyway, here's the timeline of the British quidditch championship belt accompanied with the month and year in which each belt holder won the title and some pictures of some champion teams- 

Keele Squirrels- March 2012, Leicester Thestrals- March 2012, Keele Squirrels- March 2012, 

Keele Squirrels (formerly known as Avada Keeledavra)- winners of the first ever quidditch match in UK history and the first holders of the Unofficial British Quidditch Championship Belt. Photo Credit- Bethan Jones

Bangor Broken Broomsticks- November 2012, 

Oxford University QC (Radcliffe Chimeras)- March 2013, 

Bangor Broken Broomsticks- June 2013, Oxford University QC (Radcliffe Chimeras)- June 2013,

Oxford's Radcliffe Chimeras celebrating winning the first British Quidditch Cup in November 2013 in the middle of their 20 month reign as UBQC Belt holders. Photo Credit- Steffan Danino

Southampton QC Firsts- March 2015, 

Oxford University QC (Radcliffe Chimeras)- April 2015, 

Southampton QC Firsts- October 2015, Durham University QC (Durhamstrang)- October 2015,

Nottingham Nightmares- November 2015, 

Nottingham Nightmares- one of three teams to win a regional tournament and the UBQC Belt in the same match. Photo Credit- Helen Freeman

Warwick QC- February 2016, Oxford University QC (Radcliffe Chimeras)- March 2016, 

Nottingham Nightmares- April 2016, 

Keele Squirrels- October 2016, Loughborough Longshots- October 2016,

Durham University QC (Durhamstrang)- November 2016, Velociraptors QC- November 2016, Werewolves of London- March 2017, 

Velociraptors QC- October 2017, 

Velociraptors QC- A club that is no stranger to winning the belt among other things. Photo Credit- Howard Orridge

Warwick QC- February 2018, Southampton QC Firsts- February 2018,

Warwick QC- March 2018, Velociraptors QC- March 2018, 

London QC- October 2018, 

Werewolves of London- November 2018, 

Velociraptors QC- January 2019, 

London QC- April 2019, 

London Unspeakables- November 2019, Werewolves of London November 2019.

Werewolves of London- the current holders of the UBQC Belt. Photo Credit- Quidditch UK

 

Firstly, congratulations to the Werewolves of London for being the current holders of the Unofficial British Quidditch Championship Belt, snatching it off local rivals London Unspeakables in the 2019 Southern Cup final, winning both the official regional title and unofficial national title in the process. 

You may notice that some champions have the same year and month next to their name. Due to the nature of quidditch as a tournament sport played over a day or weekend, this means that there are multiple occasions in which the belt changed hands during the same tournament or the same day of that tournament, even from one game to the next. As you can see by the presentation of the timeline in which those who gained the belt at the same tournament are next to one another on each line, there has been multiple occasions where the belt has changed hands twice in a single day. Starting with one team in the morning and ending the day with another while another team has briefly held the belt in between. For example, at the beginning of October 2016, Nottingham were the reigning belt holders having beaten Oxford at EQC in April 2016. Nottingham then played at East Midlands Cup and lost to Keele who momentarily had their hands (paws? do Squirrels have paws?) on the belt before Loughborough beat them later that day to steal it from their grasp.

Now, here's a list of all the teams to have won the belt in order of when they first achieved it and how many times they have done so:

Keele- 3

Leicester- 1

Bangor- 2

Oxford- 4

Southampton-3

Durham- 2

Nottingham- 2

Warwick- 3

Loughborough- 1

Velociraptors QC- 4

Werewolves of London- 3

London QC- 2

London Unspeakables- 1

The longest time a team has possessed the belt for is currently Oxford's Radcliffe Chimeras, holding the belt for 20 months between June 2013, winning the first BQC and their only EQC title in that time and then losing that streak when they lost to Southampton in the 2015 BQC final the following season. Although, with Werewolves' current streak set to 15 months assisted by the pandemic, unless a miracle happens that causes Covid to vanish overnight and we can all of sudden play quidditch again, it's pretty much guaranteed that Werewolves will gain sole control of this record very soon. Oxford also jointly holds the record for most times in possession of the belt with 4 (March 2013, June 2013, April 2015, March 2016) along with Velociraptors QC (November 2016, October 2017, March 2018, January 2019). Conversely, Leicester and London Unspeakables have both held the belt the belt on one occasion and for the least amount of time, having won it in one game and then lost it in the next on the same day. The belt has changed hands a total of 29 times with a University teams gaining it on 19 occasions and Community teams on 10 occasions.

So, while only 4 teams have ever been crowned official British champions, here's some congratulations to Keele,  Leicester, Bangor, Durham, Nottingham, Warwick, Loughborough, Werewolves of London and London Unspeakables who can all add 'Unofficial British Champions' to their resumes in this alternate universe in which the best team in UK quidditch was decided in a different manner.

There you have it. Not the usual kind of content but hopefully a fun alternative scenario to consider.

Many thanks to the Guardian for coming up with this idea. More content from the podcast and some articles in the pipeline coming soon including this week's pod episode with Louis Lermytte, so watch out for those things coming your way in the near future.

Take care x

 #LiveTheGame