Last weekend saw the sixth edition of the Southern Cup, hosted at Brookes Sport in Harcourt Hill, Oxford Brookes University between the 9th and 10th of November.
16 teams competed at this year’s Southern regional tournament, with nearly half of those teams being made up of London community teams (7/16 to be precise). Group A-D featured at least one London team (Group C featuring three!) so it’s not surprising when we saw an all London podium at the end of Sunday’s games.
In an intense final, the Werewolves of London Firsts reclaimed their gold medals kicking off the season in style against the London Unspeakables which ended in overtime, compiling a final score of 160°-120*. The match between London’s oldest club and EQC 2019’s bronze medalists was regarded as “one of the most exciting finals in UK Quidditch in years”. Some even comparing it to the likes of the BQC 2015 final in Nottingham against Southampton Quidditch Club and the Radcliffe Chimeras which ended in overtime as well.
The Unspeakables had beaten previous national champions London Quidditch Club A in a tight semi-final beforehand, who then progressed to the third-place playoff, facing the Oxford Mammoths to eventually claim a 3rd place finish for LQCA.
For winning Southern this year, the Werewolves have been given a pass in competing at the European Qualifier Tournament as regional winners are awarded a top seed spot at Division 1 of the European Quidditch Cup hosted in Belgium in May 2020. Other teams to qualify for EQT aside from the podium finishers include Oxford Mammoths (4th), Southampton Quidditch Club (5th), Southsea Quidditch (6th) and London Quidditch Club B (7th).
QuidditchUK would like to ultimately thank its large influx of volunteers for this year’s Southern Cup, from non-qualified tournament roles alike to tournament committee posts running gameplay, media, event and management duties. Special thanks go to Alex Greenhalgh, the Tournament Director, who ran a smooth and exciting tournament that gave our athletes more games for their money despite poor weather conditions on Day 1.
Congratulations go to the Werewolves of London Firsts for retaining their title of southern champions for two seasons in a row. We’d like to extend our praise to all our players and teams who competed this year making this Southern Cup one to remember. More importantly, a massive consideration goes out to all volunteers who ran a fantastic tournament giving their time, resources and talent across the event.
You can find the full final rankings for the weekend here
Please leave feedback for Southern Cup 2019 so that we can make next year’s even better!
Photo Credit – Paul Watts
