United Kingdom national quidditch team

Team UK was formed just in time for the 2012 IQA Summer Games in Oxford, where it competed alongside the United States, France, Australia and Canada. At the time, Quidditch in the UK was very thin on the ground; a few teams in the UK played by IQA rules, namely Avada Keeledavra and the Leicester Lovegoods (now Keele Squirrels and Leicester Thestrals), but they had only just started up that year. Other groups such as the University of Nottingham Quidditch Society and the various College teams at Oxford played by local variations on the rulebook. This meant that the UK was the most inexperienced team represented at the games, with many of its players being free-agents with no game experience. Though the UK came last at the event, roundly defeated by every other team, this event spawned the mass growth of the sport in the United Kingdom. The event was eventually won by the United States with a landslide victory over France in the Final.

The successor event to the Summer Games, the 2014 IQA Global Games, took place in Burnaby, Canada, and again the United Kingdom was represented. An initial round of try-outs selected 42 players who were later divided into the travelling team and the reserves. This event saw the UK compete against the US, Canada, Australia, France, Belgium and Mexico. The two years of intensive growth in the UK since the last appearance of its national team was reflected, and the team won major victories against Belgium and Mexico. Though they were defeated by a wide margin by the US and Canada, the UK forced extra-time against eventual silver-medallists Australia despite eventual loss and soundly defeated old rivals France. The UK was kept from the medal podium by a slight margin, losing the 3rd place playoff against Canada on a snitch-catch. The Global Games, like the Summer Games before them, were won by the Americans, who secured the gold with a wide-margin win over the Australians.

Team UK made its third appearance at the 2015 European Games, the first tournament of its kind. Team selection was made via observation of players in matches during the opening months of 2015, leading up to the British Quidditch Cup. The side finished second in the tournament, losing to France 90*-50 in the final. They topped their group, which included the hosts Italy, Norway, Germany, The Netherlands and Ireland winning every game. Victories followed in the quarter finals against Catalonia and Belgium in the semi finals. Team UK keeper and seeker Ollie Craig was named the MVP (most valued player) of the tournament.

Beginning with the 2015-16 season, a standing national squad was established fluctuating around 35 players who train together on a regular basis and are dropped or called up at the discretion of the captain and coaching staff. Squads for each competition will be selected from this national 'training squad'.

In July 2016, under captain Ben Morton, Team UK attended the Quidditch World Cup, held in Frankfurt, Germany with a squad of 21 chosen from the training squad. UK were one of the top 5 seeds heading into the tournament and lived up to expectations claiming bronze medals, after defeating Canada 190*-60 in the third place play off. The UK topped their group comfortably on day 1 with victories over Turkey, Austria, South Korea and Spain and carried their form into day 2 beating Slovenia and Turkey on the way to a semi-final against the USA. Whilst the UK took an early lead against the USA they were unable to hold onto it and a spot in the final was taken by the USA instead, with the UK losing 140*-40.

In October 2016 a squad of 10 travelled to Odense, Denmark to represent the UK in a friendly match against Norway held as part of the Odense Harry Potter Festival. The friendly was split into 3 games with the UK coming out on top in 2 of the games, winning the first 180*-30 and the second 90-80*, however the Norwegian team fought back to win the final game 110*-100.

In July 2017 Team UK, captained by Bill Orridge, won the IQA European Games, beating France in the finals 90*-70 on a snitch catch by Callum Lake. Andrew Hull led the UK in the final, notching four of the team's seven goals. Hosts Norway took third place.

Competitive record

Competition	Position
2012 Summer Games	5th of 5
2014 Global Games	4th of 7
2015 European Games	2nd of 12
2016 World Cup	3rd of 21
2017 European Games	1st of 15
2018 World Cup	4th of 29
2019 European Games	3rd of 20

Where a player's club is listed, the information is accurate at the time of their representation for the event in question. The clubs listed in the 'current national squad' section are accurate for the current season. Where these names have changed over time, the name is given as the club is known now.

Players who represent, or have represented, the UK national team are as follows;

Current National Squad

The following players formed the squad winning the 2017 IQA European Games in Oslo in July 2017.[2]

Team UK at the IQA European Games, Oslo, July 2017

	Surname	First Name	Appearances	Club
K	Hull	Andrew	34	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
K	Waters	Sebastian	16	Warwick Quidditch Club
C	Veale	Aaron	23	Werewolves of London
C	Lowe	Rebecca	18	Durhamstrang
C	Woodburn	Jacqueline	17	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
C	Malpass	Benjamin	7	Warwick Quidditch Club
C	Thanangadan	James	17	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
C	Thripp	Jemma	31	Werewolves of London
C	Heynes	Thomas	31	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
C	Riley	Oliver	7	Holyrood Hippogriffs
C	Stevens	Thomas	7	York Horntails
C	Cooper	Ashley	14*	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
C	Harris	Abigail	11	Tornadoes Quidditch Club
B	Mikolajczak	Jan	34	Werewolves of London
B	Edlund	Lucy	18	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
B	Q	Lucy	22	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
B	Sartori	Jacopo	17	Warwick Quidditch Club
B	Orridge (C)	William	22	Loughborough Longshots
B	Twist	Lukas	31	Werewolves of London
B	O'Neill	Jessica	14	Velociraptors Quidditch Club
S	Lake	Callum	7	Bangor Broken Broomsticks

*Ashley Cooper also acted as head coach of the team in a nonplaying capacity for a total of sixteen games for both European Games 2015 and World Cup 2016.