Following an announcement by the International Quidditch Association earlier this year, it was announced that national governing bodies will have the option to send regional teams to their respective upcoming Continental Games in the summer of 2019.

As a result of this, QuidditchUK has partnered with key individuals within the Scottish quidditch community to put a national Scottish team forward for European Games in 2019.

The goal of this national team is to provide greater exposure of Scottish quidditch to those both inside and outside of the sport. As quidditch gains interest and continues to expand in the public eye, having a national team provides a legitimacy that Scottish players can point towards and help grow their regional teams competitively. It also allows Scottish athletes to align themselves with their national identity, rather than aligning themselves with a combined United Kingdom team who they don’t feel properly represents their Scottish identity.

In keeping with these aims, the Scottish national team will train on a monthly basis in different locations throughout Scotland and is committed to frequent open training sessions that can be attended by anyone, regardless of whether they are currently on the national Scottish squad or not.

The introduction of a Scottish national team does not impact the current Team UK system in any way. Team UK will continue to operate as it always has, and will still compete at European Games under the Team UK monniker. Likewise the national Scottish squad will be completely independent of Team UK, and will be treated as its own entity, though still ultimately representing QuidditchUK as a national governing body to the international community. Scottish players are still eligible to be scouted for, and compete with Team UK, however they may not be on both the Team UK Training Squad and the Scottish national training squad simultaneously.

The team will be managed by Rix Dishington, with Gavin Hughes of Glasgow Grim Reapers overseeing the training and selection as Head Coach. Kieran Newton and Jack Murray from the Holyrood Hippogriffs will be Assistant Coaches, and Tev Wallace of St Andrews Snidgets will be helming the team as Captain next summer.