QuidditchUK are delighted to announce that our guidance has been approved by Sportscotland! This follows months of work from our volunteers, and long conversations between QuidditchUK and Sportscotland to ensure that our guidance is thorough and keeps our players as safe as possible. This is a huge win for our Scottish teams, who have experienced particularly strict guidelines throughout the season, and opens the door to training after the national lockdown.

This guidance means that teams will be able to train once the relevant region is in Tier 3 or below. Teams will need to do the following before training:

A Covid officer must be nominated by informing vicepresident@quidditchuk.org who they have chosen and providing contact details;

The Covid officer must complete Sportscotland’s E-learning module;

The Covid officer must implement a Test and Protect system for gathering names at training, using templates provided by Sportscotland;

A new risk assessment must be submitted to QuidditchUK for approval, even if your club has previously submitted one.

It is also recommended that clubs train in an area managed by an additional authority, such as a leisure centre or university grounds, rather than a public park. This is because, while our guidance is approved by Sportscotland, quidditch is not a fully recognised sport, which puts quidditch in an ambiguous position in terms of enforcing public gatherings. This is explained in more detail in our guidance.

QuidditchUK will cite this in discussions with governing bodies in England and Wales as we continue to provide guidance and support for our clubs as we navigate the pandemic.

Thank you to Abby Whiteley and Rebecca Norman, who worked very hard on getting this guidance approved, and we’re excited to see quidditch return in Scotland very soon!

You can find all of our guidance for Scotland, along with all of our Covid documentation, at quidditchuk.org/covid. 

Scottish Teams to Return to Play Under New Guidance

Happy New Year, everyone! We’re hoping that each and every single person had a safe holiday break and you’re looking towards a better 2021.

QuidditchUK is doing well, albeit things are quiet during this extended period of downtime, but we wanted to update the community on what the coming year looks like and a few key changes to the season in light of what appears to be an extended COVID-19 hiatus.

Click here to access the QuidditchUK x Utility Merch Store!

We're banking on 2021 to be 'our year' as an National Governing Body of one of the most unique sports in the United Kingdom (and if not the world!). Stay tuned on our website and social media for regular updates, recognitions and progress on moving forward to playing again! Get yourself involved if you want to be part of the journey by volunteering with us. With multiple roles available in our departments, there may be something that fits well with what you're looking for - whether it be skills or experience building!

Contact us if you have any questions or queries about the future of QuidditchUK and how we're going to make 2021 a welcoming year for all. 

Finally, stay safe and we hope you're looking forward to the next year ahead. Welcome back! 

Key changes to the season in light of what appears to be an extended COVID-19 hiatus.

Brooms Up! for 2021

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.

Announcements News

Scottish Teams to Return to Play Under New Guidance

Brooms Up! for 2021

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