QuidditchUK are launching today an urgent appeal to raise money to keep QuidditchUK's doors open as COVID-19 continues to impact the 2020/2021 season. As previously mentioned in our financial reports, QuidditchUK has operational costs that would normally be covered by membership fees and the residual revenue from the previous BQC. We also have used money raised from BQC to offset costs for EQT and Development Cup; with no BQC in 2020 those costs were instead drawn from our financial reserves.

We need your help. For QuidditchUK to continue running, we need at least £3000 by the end of November to cover operational costs such as storage, liability insurance, and website hosting. It allow us to keep up with the releases of new resources that are accessible to clubs and their members through this difficult time.

Any memberships purchased now will go a long way in helping us continue to carry out our tasks all year. QuidditchUK are still a non-profit organisation who is staffed by volunteers and their love for change. We purely want to keep quidditch alive, and that means meeting all the costs that go into running an organisation.

To those who have already purchased a membership, thank you so much. If for whatever reason you aren't able to purchase a membership at this time, there are other ways to help out - check out our Volunteers page for our currently open roles, or even just by sharing our fundraiser on social media will be a huge help. We really appreciate any and all help in this difficult and uncertain time.

Purchase a QUK Membership to keep quidditch alive in the UK

QuidditchUK Launches Urgent Autumn Fundraising Appeal

There have recently been significant updates released on social gatherings in England and Scotland. We have amended our recommendations for clubs in light of this - please read this document carefully, and make full use of all the resources on our new COVID website page! 

QuidditchUK’s guidance treats quidditch the same as gatherings of the general public, and not sport-specific guidance.  This is explained in the section about friendlies and contact below.

All clubs need to submit a risk assessment to QuidditchUK at secretary@quidditchuk.org no fewer than five days before training. This applies for trainings from 26th September. One risk assessment will qualify you to train indefinitely until there are significant changes in the UK governments' approaches to Covid-19.

QuidditchUK’s training guidance for England was already based on the principle of groups no larger than six. This is because, when our guidance was released, the law stipulated that two households could meet in groups of up to 30, while three or more households were limited to groups of six. The law has now changed that all groups must be of no more than six people. For this reason, English clubs can continue training. A table summarising the recommendations for clubs can be found below.

In Scotland, social gatherings are limited to groups of no more than six from two households. For this reason, all advice for Scottish clubs has been amended to reflect this. We understand that, for many clubs, meeting in groups of up to six from two households may mean that training cannot happen. Unfortunately, this is the law in Scotland and clubs should be careful to obey it.

Welsh guidance around public gatherings outdoors has not changed, and so our recommendations for Welsh clubs remain the same. Clubs can train in groups of up to 30 people.

There may be changes in these recommendations at short notice. This is due to the UK government’s approach to Covid-19, whereby changes to guidance and the law are made with little warning. All significant changes will be reported on social media and by emailing clubs directly. Please keep up to date with QuidditchUK’s stance and the broader legal context in the days leading up to a training or match.

Lots of clubs have been doing amazing and creative work in training effectively with social distancing and small groups - thank you for everything you’ve done so far! Due to increased focus of the English and Scottish governments on sticking to groups of six, and the increased power of the police to enforce this, clubs should strictly obey training recommendations as written. Clubs should be particularly careful about training in groups of six, by following this guidance:

Consider staggered training (e.g. one group of six from 1pm-2pm; a second group from 2pm-3pm);

Consider distributed training (e.g. one group training in Park A and another training in Park B);

Personal items should not be placed in one central location, but kept next to where each group is training;

Non-playing coaches should not travel between groups, unless the groups are of five or fewer.

Overall, it should be clear to a bystander that the groups are not interacting with each other. This is because the changed rules come with increased police power to intervene in groups that they believe are breaking the law about group gatherings. If the police believe that your club is breaching this law, you could be fined. Your training should be structured to ensure and demonstrate compliance with the law.

We recommend that players train with the team that requires the least travel, even if this is not their competitive team. For example, a player who currently lives in Bath but plays for Oxford Mammoths should train with Bristol Quidditch Club.

Players should not attend trainings of multiple teams within 14 days. For example, a player who trains with Manchester Quidditch Club on 1st October should not attend trainings with any other club until 15th October. This is to reduce the chance of infection across clubs.

Coaches should not travel between groups to dispense advice, unless the groups are smaller than five people. Leaders of each group should be identified and should not move between groups.

If the university associated with a university club releases recommendations which are inconsistent with QuidditchUK’s guidance, follow the recommendations from the university.

You can find all the sources for the legislation and recommendations in the bibliography of the main guidance document.

QuidditchUK is in the process of seeking permission from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to have a Covid-19 action plan submitted. If we successfully submit an action plan which is approved, then we may be able to permit larger gatherings, friendly fixtures, or contact training. However, this may be contingent on recognition as a Sport or Governing Body by Sport England, Sport Scotland, or Sport Wales. If our application for specific exemption is not approved, then we must continue to abide by guidance for gatherings of the general public. This is outside of the control of QuidditchUK.

When can we start training contact or having friendlies?

Based on the amazing work done by Quidditch Australia, QuidditchUK has developed a roadmap which shows you how we will return to playing quidditch. This may change with updated government advice, or if we are approved to submit an action plan to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Credit goes to Quidditch Australia for the idea and template.

These recommendations are matched to the national and political context. We will consider the following aspects of the national context in making a decision to move between stages:

Government legislation on size of gatherings

Government advice on sport which is applicable to QuidditchUK

It is at QuidditchUK’s discretion to determine how we move between stages. It is possible for different countries to be at different stages: for example, Wales could be at Stage 3 while England is at Stage 1. Guidance applies to the country where a player or club is travelling from, meaning that in this example English teams could not travel to Wales to benefit from laxer regulations.

We are providing a template of a form which can be used for Track and Trace within your club, which you can find under our COVID tab. This is not required for training, but we feel that it will be a useful resource for clubs in case a player becomes symptomatic. If a player exhibits Covid-19 symptoms in the 14 days after training, you do not need to tell QuidditchUK but you should inform everyone who attended the training.

This is the most up-to-date guidance from QuidditchUK as of 16th September 2020.

Changes to Covid-19 guidance for clubs

New Covid-19 Guidance for Clubs

We’re excited to announce that Individual QuidditchUK Membership is now open for purchase and registration.

We’ve updated the system significantly from the traditional shop/membership hybrid the previous website operated on, and instead have switched to an internal account system that does away with third-party online forms and keeps everything secure in one accessible place.

Membership registration can be found by creating an account via the QuidditchUK Login page which can be accessed at https://quidditchuk.org/login or by clicking on the ‘Sign In’ button in the top right corner of the site.

After registering you’ll be able to confirm your details, pay your membership, and select your club for the 2020/2021 season.

QuidditchUK currently offers two forms of membership: one regular membership fee, and one trial membership fee - details of which can be found on our Fees page.

The Season Pass has been removed due to COVID-19 causing uncertainty over the rest of the season. As we cannot guarantee which events will happen, charging tournament fees in advance makes little sense for this season but it is something we are strongly considering for the 2021/2022 season next year.

Due to COVID-19, QuidditchUK are not currently seeking registration information from clubs until the season becomes more clear. Once timing becomes appropriate, clubs will be contacted directly by QuidditchUK to confirm their Club Membership status, and to determine how many teams each club will have within it.

QuidditchUK Trial Membership £15.00

QuidditchUK Individual Membership £22.00

On a related note, due to the cancellation of the British Quidditch Cup 2020 and now a further delayed start to the 2020/2021 season, QuidditchUK’s financial resources have come under some strain.

While we certainly aren't in any sort of financial danger, we still have significant operational costs that need to be covered this side of 2021. These costs would normally be covered by membership fees and the residual revenue from the previous BQC, as reflected in our financial report.

Under normal circumstances, QuidditchUK carries a reserve of money to cover projects and costs over the summer plus paying those initial expenses for the start of the season. These include sport insurance, equipment storage, legal fees, and website/digital hosting services.

Additionally, the British Quidditch Cup supplements many of the costs associated with both EQT and Development Cup. However, with the cancellation of BQC, the additional costs from these tournaments came from that aforementioned financial reserve, and left us in a potentially uncomfortable situation as we head into the new season. 

So, with that in mind, if you are able to register your individual membership, it would help QuidditchUK greatly in maintaining our operations until early 2021.

We are still acutely aware of the uncertainty that is COVID-19, but we are still working on the assumption we will be able to compete at events later this season. In the worst case scenario, Individual Memberships purchased this season will be transferable to next season if no events take place for the 2020/2021 year.

Likewise, we’re also aware that we are in a pandemic and this has been challenging for many people, so there is absolutely no obligation to purchase membership now if you are unable to. However, any membership registration really helps, and any memberships purchased now will make our jobs easier for the rest of the year.

For transparency and clarity, we have uploaded both the 2019/2020 Financial Report and provisional 2020/2021 Budget into the Documents and Policies page. We will be going through both of these documents with club leaders at the upcoming 2020 Annual General Meeting this September 24th 2020. Remember to remind your club leadership to attend, and we look forward to discussing the upcoming season with you in a couple of weeks!

Quidditch membership is now available for registration for the 2020/2021 Season.

QuidditchUK Individual Membership Available

2020/2021 Memberships Open

The recent changes to COVID-19 within the United Kingdom and the number of cases on a steady rise throughout the country have lead to an impact on the provisional QuidditchUK 2020/2021 season and tournaments. Wherever possible, QuidditchUK need to put the health and safety of their members first, and adjustments to planned events and timelines have been made accordingly to reflect this.

Everything listed below is pending on continuous recovery and review of COVID-19, and that any return to play timeline is both safe and viable for our clubs and members. We are constantly reviewing the situation both nationally and internationally, and reviewing official advice from Sport England and the UK Government.

Club Training

European Quidditch Cup

Updated Policies and Player Caps

Finally, and most importantly, with a rise in reported COVID-19 cases across the United Kingdom, QuidditchUK have made the decision to not host any tournaments or fixtures for the remainder of 2020.

This does, unfortunately, mean that there will be no Community Fixture in October and no University Cup in November. While this is disappointing and not an easy decision to make, we need to put the wellbeing of our community ahead of all else, and hosting hundreds of individuals in a close quarters contact sport puts too many people at risk.

When the new season had been drafted, all information had been pointing towards a steady decline in cases, and we believed there was a enough time between late June (when the events were drafted) and mid-October for the worst of COVID-19 to have passed and to for us safely host a tournament at the national or regional scale required. However, with numbers again on the rise, it would be irresponsible and unreasonable of us to ask and expect several hundred athletes and volunteers to travel to a singular area to compete in the current circumstances.

We are reviewing the situation and whether we can allow small club matches to take place within given regions over the course of the coming months on an unofficial level, but with the current number of growing cases this is not looking likely, as we are not planning to reintroduce contact to trainings in the near future.

We still intend to host official events in the second half of the year where possible, but the nature and scale of these events is still to be determined and will depend on the development of COVID-19 going forward. At this stage it is not out of the question that QuidditchUK hosts 1-3 events next year that would encompass the BQC and Development Cup aspects of our regular season, but QuidditchUK's Executive Management Team will take on this decision when there is more information available to determine whether this would be a safe plan of action.

Any developments in this planning process will be communicated with clubs and community members.

COVID-19 September Updates

COVID-19 Updates and Impacts on 20/21 Season

Welcome to our brand new website! After many months of work across all parts of QuidditchUK, we are excited today to launch our new website and platform. Our entire system has been rebuilt from the ground up, using the latest in web technologies to build a site that meets the needs of the quidditch community as well as a resource for people new or interested in the sport. Here's some of the highlights of the new build, what's coming next, and how you can get involved in building QuidditchUK.

Clubs are at the very heart of QuidditchUK and so creating dedicated, vibrant profiles was always a top priority for our rebuild. Now with a dedicated profile and the ability to search for clubs by location, we hope to showcase your clubs at their best. Future plans like listing past club achievements, nearby clubs, and current season performance will come as we continue to build our events functionality.

We've completely revamped our membership experience, with a new dedicated dashboard which can tell you at a glance what type of membership you have and when it expires, and the team you are currently registered with. As we continue to build out this dashboard we'll be looking to include additional features like bringing event registration in-house, referee details, and the ability to request club transfers. 

As exciting as the new site is there is still a lot to be built to bring QuidditchUK fully in-house. Those who have previously attended QuidditchUK events will know we rely on Google Sheets for all things events - registration, scheduling, and results - all of which we want to bring into the site as we continue to improve our systems. 

Extraordinary work has been done behind the scenes by the gameplay and events departments to maintain and build these systems and translating them over will be no mean feat. We also hope in future to allows clubs to manage their affairs in a more robust way through our platform. And there's so many ideas we've not mentioned or even thought of yet. 

We know when we work collaboratively with the community we get the best results. To that end we have open sourced the front-end code of this site on GitHub. Anyone can contribute, be it changes, ideas, raising issues, or just have a look at our code. Our back-end needs a little more time to get ready for prime-time OSS, but will also be made available in the future. 

Rebuilding QuidditchUK's website has been a long, collaborative project. Members of every single department of QuidditchUK have contributed to the new site in various ways. Special thanks must be made to Lucy Nicholls for her contributions to the  design and graphics of the site, Sam Instone for his direction and work on content for the new site, and Matt Bateman for his leadership on this project. We really hope you enjoy the new site and that is a great tool for you.

An indepth look at the new website, what it can do and where we are going.

Welcome to the new QuidditchUK Website

As we gear up towards slowly reopening the sport in the coming  months, we want to call attention to a few updates taking place within  QuidditchUK.

Everything listed below is pending on continuous recovery of  COVID-19, and that return to play is both safe and viable for our clubs  and members. We are constantly reviewing the situation both nationally  and internationally, and reviewing official advice from Sport England  and the UK Government. Essentially, the following dates/events are  subject to change, and should we no longer believe the dates for  tournaments are practical or safe, we will adjust and/or cancel  accordingly.

Please note, all following announcements will be open for discussion  at the upcoming General Forum this Monday 29th June. Please ensure your  club representatives are able to attend, including any brand new clubs  set to start next year. You can do so by emailing teams@quidditchuk.org.

QuidditchUK underwent several stages of community consultation in designing the 2020/2021 season. These included:

Community round-tables on 3rd and 10th March

Publicly released survey at the beginning of May, closed at the end of that same month. (219 respondents)

The proposals given here, including our commitment to a  university/community split, were informed by the feedback received at  every stage of this consultation. Some decisions, such as the size of  regional tournaments, were carried through multiple stages of  consultation to ensure that the final decision reflects the wishes of as  many players as possible. Many thanks to all our players who committed  their time and energy to guiding our decision-making.


A summary of the findings from these consultations can be found in  the Annexe of this document. A brief explanation of how these informed  our decision-making is given below. Please note that data from the  General Forum and round-tables was gathered prior to the lockdown in  response to the pandemic, and that this has prevented or postponed the  implementation of some suggestions. The public minutes from these consultations can be found in our Documents and Policies page.


General Forum raised concerns about whether a  divisional split would be more appropriate for teams to play those  ranked at a similar competitive level. Two divisional fixtures have been  introduced for community teams, but a mixed university-community  divisional structure has considerable practical impediments which are discussed here.  US Quidditch also advised that a university/community split provided  specific opportunities which could not be accommodated with a divisional  split. Concern was raised about how the status of individual players,  such as postgraduate students, would be handled. This issue was also  raised in discussion between QuidditchUK and US Quidditch. Some useful  suggestions for managing this concern were raised at the round-tables,  including geographical exemptions for players who cannot access a  community team; a “student minimum” cap rather than a “community  maximum”; and a phased approach over multiple seasons, rather than  implementing strict distinctions immediately. Some teams, particularly  those in Scotland and the Midlands, were concerned about a lack of  variety in opponents incurred by smaller regions. This question was  pursued in further consultations. Concern was expressed about the  proposed fee structure. It was agreed that this would be revisited, and  at this General Forum we are presenting a very different approach.


The round-tables followed up on General Forum by  raising discussion about the appropriate size of regionals;  opportunities for university and community teams to play each other; and  interest among community teams in summer play. There was mixed feedback  about appropriate regionals size, as smaller regionals are cheaper but  mean that teams play a less diverse range of opponents. This was  included in the survey to obtain further feedback. The response to  interest in a summer season for community teams was initially to move  community fixtures into late summer/early autumn, with a mid-season  break until spring. However, this has not been possible to propose for  the 2020/2021 season due to the COVID-19 outbreak preventing summer  training. We will review this when the pandemic is no longer a  complicating factor.


The community survey provided some clear-cut answers  to some of the issues raised above. The balance between smaller, more  affordable events and large, more competitively valuable events fell in  favour of larger events: 59% of respondents indicated a preference for  larger events. 63% of university respondents voted for larger regionals,  compared to 53% of community respondents. This is reflected in our  decision to provide larger regionals for university teams, and  divisional fixtures for community teams. A larger (32-team) BQC received  106 votes, while a smaller (24-team) BQC received 110 votes. University  players indicated greater interest in a larger (32-team) BQC. Due to  the very close divide in player base opinion, the following factors were  decisive in our delivery of a 24-team BQC:

It is cheaper both for QuidditchUK and for teams, in particular due to venue expense;

The  reported number of teams for the upcoming season indicates that a  32-team BQC may mean we cannot run a full Development Cup, of which the  importance is widely acknowledged by attendees;

A  smaller BQC makes a greater number of people available to volunteer,  either in tournament committee roles or as on-the-day volunteers, which  raises the quality of the event for everyone.

This allows us to run two high-quality, cheaper tournaments, rather  than investing more resources in running a larger, lower-quality  tournament, accompanied by a very small Development Cup or none at all.


The original projected timeline for consultation included a document  commentary, where a full draft of the season would be released for free  comment. Due to diverted volunteer resourcing in adjustments prompted by  the COVID-19 outbreak, this has not been possible. However, we hope  that the release of these documents, and the concomitant discussion at  General Forum, will provide sufficient opportunity to give feedback on  these proposals without a formal process.

Community Consultation and University/Community Split

The Executive Team and Events/Gameplay department have agreed upon a  final calendar of what the next QuidditchUK season will look like for 2020/2021.


As noted earlier, these dates are subject to change based on advice  surrounding COVID-19, and are yet to be discussed with club leaders at  the upcoming general forum.

Specific formats, including how seeding will be allocated, is under  review by QuidditchUK. Clubs will be updated when final decisions have  been reached and this calendar has been rolled out.

We are also updating our website, creating a tool that will make  quidditch easier to find for new people, and also streamline the  membership/event registration process for both players and club leadership. We’re on track for an early August launch.

Postcode Finder - Will inform anyone of their nearest club or event in the UK based on an input postcode

Quote Builder - A system that will allow clubs to automatically generate quotations for  tournaments and membership, specifically for clubs requiring funding  from their student unions or sponsors.

Full pages with contact details, club history, results, photos, and related news for each club.

Registration Fixes - Moving away from Google Forms entirely so we have a manageable system on the  QUK side, that also gives instant access to club leadership who has  registered for a team/tournament.

Easier access to grants, policies, minutes, programmes etc.

If you’re interested in assisting with development, please email technology@quidditchuk.org or media@quidditchuk.org

Part of this process is creating more informative pages that direct  new players towards your clubs. A form was sent out to existing clubs on  both email and social media in the last week. If your leadership has  not yet filled it out then please do so as soon as possible. Likewise,  if you did not receive it, please email teams@quidditchuk.org to request the form – particularly if you are a new club.

Finally, we are still recruiting two new Executive Volunteers to join  the QuidditchUK Executive Team: the Teams Director and Volunteers  Director.
For anyone interested in learning more about these roles or where/if you can step in, you can get in touch with president@quidditchuk.org or vicepresident@quidditchuk.org.

Table 2: Findings from community round-tables

Please note that only areas directly relevant to this proposal are  included. A full report of responses will be released separately.

Table 3: Findings from community consultation survey

Updates for the upcoming 2020/2021 season

Announcements News

QuidditchUK Launches Urgent Autumn Fundraising Appeal

New Covid-19 Guidance for Clubs

2020/2021 Memberships Open

COVID-19 Updates and Impacts on 20/21 Season

Welcome to the new QuidditchUK Website

General Forum, 2020/21 Season Updates, New Website, Director Roles