Jump to content

Oxford Universities Quadball Club

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oxford Universities Quadball Club
Oxford Universities Quadball Club Logo
The logo of Oxford Universities Quadball Club
Full nameOxford Universities Quadball Club
NicknameRadcliffe Chimeras
Short nameOUQC
SportQuadball
Founded20 November 2011
Based inOxford
Home groundUniversity Parks, Oxford
ColoursDark blue and white
   
PresidentBen Naylor
Head coachThomas Ng
CaptainRowan Harrison-Walker
National championshipsThree Time British Quadball Cup Winner
MascotA chimera and an owl
Websiteouqc.co.uk

Oxford Universities Quadball Club (OUQC) is the quadball (formerly 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.[1] Both teams are official QuadballUK (QUK) teams. QUK is the UK quidditch governing body, and is a constituent part of the International Quadball Association (IQA).

The club was formed as Oxford Quidditch on 20 November 2011 and adopted the name Oxford Universities Quidditch Club in 2013, then changing to its current name as the sport itself changed from quidditch to quadball in 2022. The club has seen much success, with the Radcliffe Chimeras a substantial amount of national and international titles. These include the first annual British Quidditch Cup (BQC), and the European Quidditch Cup, in late 2013 and early 2014, as well as BQC in 2016. More recently the club came first[2] in the 2025 British Quadball Cup (on the university side), seeing their first major tournament win since the 2020 Development Cup.

Both teams have previously competed in the season-long competition organised by QuidditchUK called The Challenge Shield, the first matches of were played in September 2014.[3][4]

The club played in Worcester College for six months, before moving to a permanent marked out field in Oxford's University Parks in May 2012.[5] Currently, they play instead on temporary pitches, still in University Parks.

OUQC Success

[edit]
Date Tournament Name Location Finals Score Runner Up
November 2013 BQC Oxford 110 - 60* Keele Squirrels
November 2014 Southern Cup Southampton 140* - 30 Southampton QC
March 2015 BQC Nottingham 90 - 120* Oxford, lost to Southampton QC
November 2015 Southern Cup Oxford 130* - 90 Warwick QC
March 2016 BQC Rugeley 150* - 50 Warwick QC
March 2020 Development Cup Salford 130* - 70 London Unbreakables
February 2025 Southern 2 Chigwell N/A (Round Robin Format) N/A
May 2025 BQC Keele 130* - 50 Holyrood Hippogriffs

[6]

History

[edit]

Early days

[edit]

The first incarnation of Oxford University's muggle quidditch team came into being on 20 November 2011. Angus Barry organised a match between Worcester College and St Edmund Hall held in the extensive grounds of Worcester.[7] Rules were loose and almost non-existent, with St Edmund Hall winning the majority of games played.[8] Following complaints from the groundsmen of Worcester College, play quickly moved from Worcester College to the University Parks.[9] Other colleges (notably at that point University College and Mansfield College) also joined the emerging group of teams within the university.[10] The standard rulebook of the International Quidditch Association was officially adopted during the Trinity (summer) term of 2012.[citation needed]

After the Global Games were held in Oxford in 2012,[11][12] Oxford organised its first match against another university, defeating Reading in a home fixture on 24 November 2012.[13] A few months later, Oxford played Leicester in another home fixture in University Parks, and won all three matches played by scores of 90-40*, 60-40*, and 120*-40. This was followed by Oxford's first tournament success, claiming the Highlander Cup in March 2013 after winning against Bangor in near-unplayable weather conditions in Edinburgh.[citation needed]

A new order and the first British Champions

[edit]

The Whiteknights Tournament in Reading saw the Radcliffe Chimeras take first place, whilst the Quidlings struggled, finishing last.[14] Along with the adoption of a two-team structure, the executive committee structure was also changed, with Ashley Cooper taking over from founder Angus Barry as captain of the Radcliffe Chimeras, as well as being installed as the club's first president.[citation needed]

This change was followed by the inaugural British Quidditch Cup in November 2013.[15] Hosted in Oxford, at the University Parks, the British Quidditch Cup was the first national championship within the United Kingdom,[16] and sixteen teams, including the Radcliffe Chimeras and the Quidlings, took part.[17] After a successful recruitment drive at the start of the academic year, the Quidlings, despite an early loss to the Leicester Lovegoods, defeated the Norwich Nifflers and the Chester Chasers to reach the quarter-finals of the Cup, only for them to be knocked out of the tournament 100*-0 by Southampton. Southampton were themselves beaten in the semi-finals by the Radcliffe Chimeras, with a final score of 110*-0 (with the asterisk denoting the snitch catch), after finishing top of their group, going on to become the first British Champions after beating Keele University in the final with a score of 110–60*.[18]

International success and building for the future

[edit]

On 1 and 2 February 2014, the two teams of Oxford University Quidditch Club played their first international matches. Travelling to Brussels to take part in the 2014 European Quidditch Cup, they hoped to make their mark on the world of international quidditch. The Quidlings won two of their three group games, almost snatching a space at the IQA World Cup, before losing out to Brundisi Lunatica in the play-off match. However, the Chimeras lived up to their now extensive reputation, only losing one game (against Paris Frog) on their way to a final against Paris Phénix. Although losing their Keeper, Luke Twist, to a red card in the last few minutes of the match after he'd made important contributions to their leading scoreline at that point, the Chimeras powered on to defeat Paris 100*-30 with a spectacular snitch grab from volunteer seeker Steffan Danino, claiming the title of European Champions.[19][20][21] Returning from their exploits on the continent, the club set about hosting a mercenary tournament, the Valentines Cup, in South Park, Oxford. This took place on 22 and 23 February, and was the largest tournament of this nature to take place outside of the United States, with over 160 players taking part. The organisers of the event, Luke Twist and Jasiek Mikolajczak, were later nominated as Radcliffe Chimeras captain and President respectively, following the announcement that Ashley Cooper would not be continuing his time as president or captain. The Quidlings captaincy was taken over by Jack Lennard.[22]

Nine OUQC players were included in the squad of twenty-one that represented the United Kingdom at the 2014 Global Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[23] In 2016, the Chimeras regained their national champion placing in the British Quidditch Cup, held 19–20 March.[24]

Renewed success: the 2024-25 season

[edit]

In the 2024-25 season, Oxford was coached by Luckeciano Melo, had president Maria Mahony, and was captained by Russell Bartram.

OUQC played in both southern cups, as well as the British Quadball Cup (BQC), and had their most successful season in recent times. In their first tournament of the year in November 2024, after having a great recruitment season to see a squad filled with several promising newcomers to the sport, they placed joint second in the Southern Development Cup, hosted by Warwick,[25] after losing a hard-fought game against Warwick QC, in which Oxford managed to catch the flag but unfortunately their goal deficit was too large to make up. Warwick were their rivals in recent years, so the team looked promising for the year ahead.

In January, the team suffered two unfortunate injuries, a broken finger and a broken collarbone, each for a beater, putting both players out of the tournament, and resulting in difficult roster implications. Luckily, a small number of Cambridge students, one of whom had previously played for Oxford, agreed to play for OUQC as well, making sure Oxford had the numbers to play. So, in February, they still managed to place first in the Southern Cup in Chigwell,[26] going undefeated, including against Warwick after a comeback result. A flag catch from OUQC from behind put them in a closer match, yet still behind a few points. The similarity to the game they played in Southern Dev also gave Oxford a reason to be worried, but they managed to keep their heads, and the flag catch put momentum on their side They then scored a few crucial goals, with Warwick struggling to match them, and finally the two teams were in a next-goal-wins situation. With a missed goal from each side keeping the crowd and live viewers on the edge of their seats, OUQC finally scored a winning goal, enabling them to go on to win the tournament. Having not won a tournament of this level for a few years, this felt like the year to change OUQC's fortunes and potentially have the chance to go far in the biggest tournament of the year: BQC.

In the build up to BQC,[27] there was lots of excitement at the possibility of a medal, and the team looked stronger than ever. Both of their injured players were healthy in time to come back and play so the beater side of the team looked in great shape, and the chasers had some very talented and experienced players as well as a nicely filled out roster. On the first day, the group stages, the team beat each team they played with convincing score lines,[28] although they had shaky starts to some of the games. Nonetheless, they were the top seeded heading into the knockout round of day 2, though they were now set to face their biggest opponents of the season, as Warwick had been in the other side of the bracket and hadn't been as successful. In a game that on paper should have been a sweep by Oxford based on the teams' respective scores so far at BQC, Warwick were leading as the flag came on pitch, so the situation was looking less than favourable for OUQC. The one thing going for them was that they had had 100% flag catching success rate over the season so far, posting 9 flag catches for the team over 9 games played, and this score line even with a variety of seekers. More importantly though, the game's not over till it's over, and Oxford once again managed to catch the flag, at a score of 60-80 with Oxford down, meaning the end score of the game was 90*-80 and OUQC were in the finals of BQC, with a medal now secured. They were now set to face Holyrood Hippogriffs, a team from Scotland which they had no experience playing with at its current roster, so the match-up seemed as though it could go either way. Oxford started strong, using their back-driver strategy well, though there was a moment mid-way through the game where Holyrood used a time-out and it looked as though the momentum had swung entirely in their favour, as they scored a small number in a row with seemingly minimal opposition from Oxford to put the game at even footing. However, OUQC managed to bring the game back under their control, and eventually won the final with a score 130*-50.

This put them at 3 all-time BQC wins, and they were the first quadball team to reach that mark. This was followed by the Werewolves of London later in the tournament, on the Community League side of the tournament, though OUQC are still the most decorated University League team to date.

Early Results

[edit]

Radcliffe Chimeras

[edit]

(including results from before the formation of the two-team system)

Date Tournament name Teams played Result
24 November 2012 Best-of-3 Reading Rocs Won[29]
23 February 2013 Best-of-3 Leicester Lovegoods Won
16 Mar 2013 – 17 Mar 2013 Highlander Cup, Edinburgh Holyrood Hippogriffs, Avada Keeledavra,
Bangor Broken Broomsticks, St Andrews Snidgets		 First
16 May 2013 Single match Nottingham Nightmares Won
26 May 2013 Single match London Unspeakables Won
24 Jun 2013 – 25 Jun 2013 Whiteknights Tournament Bangor Broken Broomsticks, Reading Rocs,
Southampton Quidditch, Oxford Quidlings		 First
9 Nov 2013 – 10 Nov 2013 BQC Nottingham Nightmares, London Unspeakables,
Derby Quidditch, Leeds,
Southampton Quidditch, Avada Keeledavra		 First[30]
1 Feb 2014 – 2 Feb 2014 European Quidditch Cup Paris Frog, Paris Phénix
Lille Black Snitches, Barcelona Eagles,
Belgian Qwaffles, Paris Frog		 First[31][32][33]
27 April 2014 Roxdon Reading Rocs, London Unspeakables Won both
3 May 2014 Single match Bangor Broken Broomsticks Won
10 May 2014 The Almighty Battle Southampton Quidditch Club,
Loughborough Longshots		 Won all matches

Quidlings

[edit]
Date Tournament name Teams played Result
24 Jun 2013 – 25 Jun 2013 Whiteknights Tournament Bangor Broken Broomsticks, Reading Rocs,
Southampton, Radcliffe Chimeras		 Fifth
9 Nov 2013 – 10 Nov 2013 BQC Leicester Lovegoods, Norwich Nargles,
Chester Chasers, Southampton Quidditch		 Quarter-finalists[34]
1 Feb 2014 – 2 Feb 2014 European Quidditch Cup Brindisi Lunatica, Antwerpen Beerters,
Milano Meneghins, Nantes Quidditch, Paris Frog		 Ninth[35][36][37]
27 April 2014 Roxdon Reading Rocs, London Unspeakables Won both
3 May 2014 Single match Bangor Broken Broomsticks Won

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Oxford Universities Quidditch Club".
  2. ^ "British Quadball Cup 2025 | QuadballUK". QuadballUK – Find Your Passion. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  3. ^ "QuidditchUK". Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  4. ^ "QuidditchUK". Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  5. ^ "QuidditchUK". Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  6. ^ "QUK All seasons results". Google Docs. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  7. ^ "Cherwell – Quidditch match between Worcester and Teddy Hall". Cherwell. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  8. ^ "The Oxford Student – What do you mean we're nerds?". Oxford Student. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  9. ^ "The Oxford Student – Keeping Their Feet on the Ground". Oxford Student. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  10. ^ "The Guardian – Anyone for Quidditch? Harry potter game kicks off at Oxford". Guardian Online. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  11. ^ "The Oxford Student – Olympics sweep into Oxford with record-breaking Quidditch event". Oxford Student. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  12. ^ "Huffington Post – Quidditch Olympics: Harry Potter 'Sport' To Be played At Oxford As Olympic Torch Passes By". Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  13. ^ "Cherwell – Quidditch flying high". Cherwell. Retrieved 6 May 2014. Our upcoming match on the 24th November is against Reading.
  14. ^ "The Oxford Student – Quidditch team flying high". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  15. ^ "BBC News – First 'Quidditch' British Cup held in Oxford". BBC News Online. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  16. ^ "Oxford Mail – First Quidditch tournament to get sport off the ground". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  17. ^ "The Oxford Student – Oxford snitch rights to host Quidditch Cup". Oxford Student. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  18. ^ "Cherwell – British Quidditch Cup review". Cherwell. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  19. ^ "IQA – Chimeras take Europe". International Quidditch Association. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  20. ^ "Le Mouv' – Oxford reimport l'Euro de Quidditch". Le Mouv'. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  21. ^ "RTBF – Même les Moldus peuvent participer au championnat d'Europe de Quidditch". RTBF. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  22. ^ "QuidditchUK – Team List". QuidditchUK. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  23. ^ "QuidditchUK – The Roster". QuidditchUK. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  24. ^ https://quidditchuk.org/news/display/1097[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ "University League Southern Development | QuadballUK". QuadballUK – Sport For Anyone. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  26. ^ "Southern University Cup | QuadballUK". QuadballUK – Sport For Anyone. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  27. ^ "BQC University Division Preview | QuadballUK". QuadballUK – Sport For Anyone. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  28. ^ "British Quadball Cup 2025 | QuadballUK". QuadballUK – Sport For Anyone. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  29. ^ "Cherwell – Quidditch flying high". Cherwell. Retrieved 6 May 2014. Our upcoming match on the 24th November is against Reading.
  30. ^ "Cherwell – British Quidditch Cup review". Cherwell. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  31. ^ "IQA – Chimeras take Europe". International Quidditch Association. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  32. ^ "Le Mouv' – Oxford reimport l'Euro de Quidditch". Le Mouv'. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  33. ^ "RTBF – Même les Moldus peuvent participer au championnat d'Europe de Quidditch". RTBF. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  34. ^ "Cherwell – British Quidditch Cup review". Cherwell. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  35. ^ "IQA – Chimeras take Europe". International Quidditch Association. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  36. ^ "Le Mouv' – Oxford reimport l'Euro de Quidditch". Le Mouv'. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  37. ^ "RTBF – Même les Moldus peuvent participer au championnat d'Europe de Quidditch". RTBF. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oxford_Universities_Quadball_Club&oldid=1293916773"