Youth Quadball is emerging rapidly across in schools and communities across the United Kingdom, and is quickly becoming a favourite sport for young people everywhere! 

QuadballUK are proud to have partnered with Commando Joe's Enrichment, an organisation that specialises in youth quadball and has been working with tens of thousands of young people in schools all over the country.

Commando Joe's Enrichment work directly with schools to bring quadball/quidditch to their pupils; developing training tools for teachers, hosting events and competitions for children, developing and supplying the official youth quadball equipment, and providing official 1st4Sport endorsed coaching qualifications for schools and community clubs wishing to expand quadball as a sport to their young people.

For schools, parents, or organisations wishing to engage and bring quadball/quidditch to their children, we highly recommend reaching out to Commando Joe's Enrichment and engaging with the programmes they are developing and rolling out.

You can find QuadballUK-affiliated youth events here. 

Youth Quadball Events

Find specialist quadball equipment designed for youth players here!

Official Youth Quadball Equipment

Commando Joe's Enrichment Education Services

Youth Quadball is emerging rapidly across in schools and communities across the United Kingdom, and is quickly becoming a favourite sport for young people everywhere!

Youth Quadball

On a brisk weekend in early April, four university teams with members representing eight universities converged on Keele University, home of the very first competitive quadball match, to battle it out for the right to be crowned the British University Quadball Cup champions. 

After the reformatting of the QUK season structure, they would have the honour of being the very first. 

All eyes were squarely on the university division, and they did not disappoint. The event saw teams face the very highest of highs and the lowest of lows, moments that stopped hearts and minutes that left nails bitten down to the nib. We saw experienced veterans passing on batons to shining fresh faces, new alliances forged, old rivalries restoked. 

Not to mention seeing the guest appearance of each and every one of the four seasons at various points of the weekend (huge shoutout to Winter for that hail). 

Day one of BUQC saw the four teams play each other in a round robin that would determine seeding for the double elimination bracket on day two. 

First up to clash was Cambridge vs Edinburgh. The Holyrood Hippogriffs had been bolstered by four Warwick players and one Manchester Minotaur, who helped to round out a very dangerous team, capable of both heavy drives and skilled passing around the hoops. 

The Cambridge Chronophages brought the smaller squad, but had dug deep to call forth a Leicester Thestral, a Werewolf of London, and a brother to fill out their ranks. In the end, Cambridge’s smaller, more technical roster took the win, 170-80*, but it would be a defeat that Edinburgh would learn well from when these two met again on day two.

Next up came Southampton against Oxford. The Southampton Anchors had returned to their tried and tested alliance with the Bristol Bears, bringing a wide range of experience. The Radcliffe Chimeras meanwhile had produced a whopping 19-player roster that was only shy of the legal limit of 21 after a few late dropouts. 

Oxford proved the more consistent scorers of the two teams, and despite a flag catch from Southampton, the final score ran away from them at 110-50*.

In the second round of games, the two pairs swapped opponents, leaving Oxford to face Cambridge and Edinburgh Southampton. 

In the Oxbridge Varsity match, Cambridge started the first half clearly dominant, but a hand injury and string of cards (including one ejection) left them open to a number of goals from the western university that went unanswered, followed shortly thereafter by a catch. Despite this setback, Cambridge pulled through to reach the set score of 140-100*, but the strength of Oxford’s deep bench in its late game was evident – foreshadowing what was to come on day 2.

Meanwhile Edinburgh, bolstered by the return of one of their star drivers and shooters, came out in force against Southampton. Despite a number of very close attempts by the Anchors, Edinburgh’s physical mismatch proved absolutely dominant against the physically smaller and less experienced team, and they were swept away under a barrage that left their only points on the board courtesy of their flag catch: 130-30*.

The final games of the day pitted Southampton against Cambridge and Oxford against Edinburgh. 

In the former, Southampton improved upon their scoreline from their first two games, but ultimately couldn’t answer Cambridge’s drivers. Jamie Charlton’s team can still take some solace in having caught every flag of day one, leaving the scores 120-60* to Cambridge. 

Edinburgh and Oxford (a rematch of the final of last year’s BQC) proved much closer, to the point that not even a sudden hailstorm could convince either team to forfeit the match. In a hard-fought, catch-to-win flag game, the tides ultimately tipped in favour of the Hippogriffs, ending the day on a 90*-40 scoreline. 

These two ancient teams would get the chance to face off again in the very first game of day two, with the rankings of the round robin set as Cambridge 1st, Edinburgh 2nd, Oxford 3rd and Southampton 4th.

Day two broke bright and early to reveal pitches heavily suffering under the combined hail-rain-boot combination. Across the day, both fields would steadily devolve into complete mud baths, forcing all teams to adapt their strategies for success. Yet the less-than-ideal conditions did nothing to deter the university teams’ ambitions of making it through the double elimination bracket, with every player on pitch throwing themselves heart and body into the tar pits of the fields throughout the day. The steady decline of every team’s kit colour into mud brown attests to their determination.

First to clash was a repeat of the Oxford-Edinburgh game from the day before (sans the hail interruption). The scores were kept nail-bitingly close, with a catch-to-win game going once more to the Scottish side, 70*-50. At the same time, an unfortunate series of injuries forced the Southampton side to forfeit their games but allowed them to continue to play under a 4-max gender limit. Cambridge celebrated their first catch of the tournament here, taking them to 160*-30.

Now one match away from the final, Edinburgh and Cambridge came to blows again. Bucking any expectations based on the day before, the Hippogriffs pounced onto the field with a ferocity that seemed to startle the Chronophages. As the flag was released onto the pitch, the scores were tied. A loss here would not instantaneously eliminate either team, but it would force them into the lower bracket and require them to play one additional game to get back into the final. 

It was clear that neither team were prepared to give up the easier route. Cambridge and Edinburgh went tackle for tackle, score for score, until a sudden catch from the Cambridge side earned them the equally sudden win: 100*-70. Now the onus would be on the previous year’s runner up to fight their way back to the final.

Standing in their path would be the former winners, Oxford. Having been knocked down into the lower bracket a game earlier by Edinburgh themselves, Oxford had sailed through Southampton’s forfeited friendly and were now back to facing the Scots for the third time this weekend. 

Both sides knew they were out of eliminations: either they would win this and face Cambridge in the finals, or they would be knocked fully out of the tournament. 

At first, both sides seemed to be adjusting to the muddy pitch, with the first goal only being scored by Oxford after 3 minutes of gametime. Oxford seemed to identify the threat of shots from Edinburgh and took up a Baylor defence; Edinburgh took a few offences to find its weakness, but were soon sending a threatening player behind hoops to catch and slam it in before the hoop defender could respond. 

For a while it looked like the two strategies were equally matched, but thanks to a few quick drives, the northerners began to pull ahead. As the seekers approached the flag runner (or perhaps more accurately were approached by the flag runner, the ever-formidable Douglas Bryant), Edinburgh tipped the score to 70-30. 

Goals went back and forth, with some spectacular defensive plays from both sides, including a leaping block from Sarah Clark on Oxford and a double tackle from Matthew Hamilton and Ben Talbot for Edinburgh. 

The score-difference flip-flopped between 40, 30, 40, 30, and then… 20. The whistle blew… and then kept blowing. Not two seconds after the scoreline closed to catch-to-win, Oxford pulled the sock… and won their spot in the final.

The stage was set. The final would be taking place between arch nemeses Oxford and Cambridge universities. Upgraded to a pristine 3G pitch, there would be no contention that the weather played any role in this match-up: the final would come down to skill and tenacity alone.

The sticks up whistle blew, and Cambridge came out swinging, with their larger players driving in 3 goals unanswered. But Oxford’s domination of the beater game left Cambridge vulnerable, and Oxford had soon put 3 back in their favour. Then things began to go very wrong for the Chronophages. 

A no-bludgers situation allowed a drive that took the score to 50-40 in favour of Oxford… making them the first team in the tournament to have put Cambridge behind in points. Then an error in substitutions (during which Cambridge briefly fielded five chasers) sent speaking captain Jessie Ho to the penalty box. Crucially, she was a beater. 

Oxford began to apply the pressure, under which Cambridge barely clung on. For a moment there was hope that the Easterlings would run out the card, but when their second beater ran through the Oxford keeper, he was promptly sent to join his partner in the sin bin. 

With both Cambridge beaters out of the game, Oxford leapt at the opportunity with a full team assault. Somehow, the Chronophages’ tight 2-2 held, and under the combined weight of three separate wrappers, the Oxford ball carrier was brought down into a heap on the keeper line for long enough for one of the Cambridge beaters to be released and get back with a dodgeball, followed shortly by their second.

Now Cambridge began to rediscover their groove. With the Cambridge beaters winning control for the first time this game, the Chronophages began to inch up by score. As the seekers were counted in, the score stood at 70-90 to Cambridge. They had the momentum, the point difference, and the dodgeball control. What more could they possibly want?

Try as they might, the grace and skill of Josh Armitage as the flag runner stumped Cambridge’s seekers for crucial minutes. Oxford regrouped and replanned, bursting their opposition’s bubble and giving their own seekers a chance. Yet likewise, the Oxford side smacked into the unyielding wall of Armitage and were rebuked. 

Both teams traded dodgeballs in a flurry, bubbles were formed and burst every few minutes, and seekers cycled through desperately, each one searching for a chink in the flag runner armour. 

Meanwhile, the chaser game continued fiercer than ever, with both sides making huge tackles, furious drives, and desperate defences. The slight lead Cambridge started with hovered out of SWIM for a moment, then dropped to almost level, before slowly rising once more. The scoreline shifted slowly but inexorably upwards, until the difference stood at 80 points. 

At this point, most teams trailing would balk at the scoresheet, letting their heads drop and their hearts give in. But not the reigning champions. Oxford dug deep, finding some extra reserve of energy that escaped the flagging Chronophages, scoring three goals in a row. At the 42-minute mark, well into the third flag runner handicap, the score stood at 200-240, with still no catch in sight. Oxford now had just 3 minutes to do something incredible.

It started with that thing that lifts all spirits and changes all fortunes: a flag catch, courtesy of a well-timed dash from Liam Coffin while the flag runner was distracted. 

The scores were 240*-260, and the time was 90 seconds to the hard time cap. Cambridge called an immediate timeout to discuss their response, but Oxford used this time well too. First one goal was put through by the blues, and then another. The scores were tied, and if the hard time cap was reached the first tiebreaker would give the win to whichever team caught the flag. 

The Chronophages were running out of time. A missed beat from a Cambridge beater occurred right before a pitch-long drive by the newer team was caught up in contact. A blue beat got the volleyball back in the hands of the Oxford keeper, and following a high contact card, he wisely chose to take it from the endline. But instead of slowballing the length of the pitch, Oxford went for one more goal!  

The pitch reverberated with the chant of the crowd as they counted down the final few seconds… 3… 2… 1… and it was suddenly all over.

British University Quadball Cup 2026 Recap

We're incredibly to excited to announce several new faces who are joining QuadballUK across multiple departments, each bringing fresh eyes and leadership as we continue to push and grow quadball across the United Kingdom.

William Brilliant will be joining the Executive Management Team as the new Assistant Director, working directly with QUK Co-Directors Matt Bateman and Gio Forino as he takes on the excellent Izzy Brown's role moving forward.

The incredible Bronwyn Powell has joined QuadballUK as our new Youth Officer, and is already focusing on introducing the sport to new and younger audiences later this year on a new summer project.

Matthew Houghton is stepping up as our newly created National Teams Coordinator, and will be the key point of contact in managing and supporting our national teams as we look towards the upcoming European Games and the 2027 World Cup.

The fantastic Sam Mills is joining the Events team, supporting Alice Walker as our new Assistant Head of Events.

And finally, James Kramer has joined the Volunteers Department, supporting Maria Mahoney as our new Assistant Head of Volunteers after Daniel Holmes stepped down earlier this year.

Alongside Will, we're also joined by a range of brand new dedicated volunteers across several departments.

Will Brilliant

Bronwyn Powell

Matthew Houghton

Sam Mills

James Kramer

We're really excited for what this new wave of volunteers can and will bring to the sport, especially as we start winding up towards our summer season and everything that comes with it.

There is still plenty more we want to achieve across gameplay, safeguarding, youth, and media projects over the rest of 2026 - so if you want to get involved then please check out our volunteering page, or get in touch with Maria or James to chat about how you want to get stuck in!

New Faces Joining QuadballUK Leadership

We are determined to grow the sport in the United Kingdom and create more opportunities for the engagement and development of players across official university and community leagues.

We have developed this structure in the hopes that a student who discovers the sport through their university club or similar is able to transition through the season across the entire year seamlessly.

To that end, QuadballUK leadership has decided to make key changes to the season structure.

The University Season will start in October and conclude with the British University Quadball Cup in April to align with typical school terms.

The Community Season will now take place over the summer, starting in April with the Community Shield and ending with the British Quadball Cup in September.

Starting in 2026, the British Quadball Cup will serve as the qualifying tournament for the European Quadball Cup.

Allow and encourage community clubs more time to support the growth of the university league during the fall and winter months.

Give university players the opportunity to spend more time cross-playing with community teams during the university off-season.

Allow the higher level of play of the community league to take place during a period of better weather, improving the safety and experience of players, and aiding retention of new recruits. 

As part of this adjustment to the season, we have also adjusted the membership window for the ease of players and teams alike. Previously our season ran from June 1st until May 31st - from the 26/27 season onwards, the membership window will now be from October 1st until September 30th the following year.

As part of this adjustment, membership for the current 25/26 season will be valid until September 30th 2026.

See below for a thorough outline of the season and an example of what a typical season may look like for a player.

Development Cup - November

British University Quadball Cup - April

Community Shield - April

Community Leagues

British Quadball Cup - September

European Quadball Cup - May/June

IQA International Event - July

Quadball Nations Cup - October

Beyond official tournaments and leagues, we know how important regular competitions and events are for the growth and sustainment of quadball both competitively and socially. 

We also know that access to games beyond official tournaments opens this sport up to more people - both new and old members. Fantasy and club-run events have been invaluable for this and it's been encouraging to see so many teams and individuals hosting friendly or fantasy events this season.

To that end, QUK Co-Director Matt Bateman is currently working with several venue and organisational partners to announce some more casual and accessible quadball games, designed to invite and attract new joiners to the sport through the Spring and Summer months.

Please keep an eye out for future announcements regarding these upcoming casual games and how you can engage with them.

If you need support with your team's event, reach out to events@quadballuk.org and/or tournaments@quadballuk.org and we’ll see how we can help!

An overview of what a typical season of Quadball UK looks like.

Quadball UK Season Structure Overview

Season Structure Overview

We're excited to announce the three brand new faces to the Quadball UK Executive Management Team, all of whom are stepping up and into their new positions as we gear into the 2025/2026 season.

Maria Mahoney joins us as our new Head of Volunteers, succeeding the incredible Milo To.
Cornelia Tzana will be taking charge of our communications as Head of Media, replacing Gemma Gedling. And finally, the excellent Thomas Ng is joining us as the QuadballUK Secretary, after Gemma Wooliscroft stepped down earlier this year.

Photo credits Ajantha Abey Photography + Cornelia Tzana

Brand New Quadball UK Executive Volunteers!

Maria Mahoney

Cornelia Tzana

Thomas Ng

Maria joins QUK after an incredible volunteering with Oxford University Quadball Club. After joining OUQC as a fresher, Maria quickly went on to volunteer in almost every role for the club - including OUQC Captain in 2023, and club President in 2024 and 2025.

Maria now plays for Birmingham Badgers, as well as holding several appearances for Team Ireland at both European Games and the IQA World Cup.

Her experience as a volunteer and a leader in the community will be invaluable, and we cannot wait to see what she achieves during her tenure.

Cornelia brings a wealth of marketing and media experience to the role, having worked with major entertainment brands such as Disney and SEGA, as well as smaller grassroots organisations like The Leigh Purtill Ballet Company. Over the past two years, she has managed the Werewolves of London’s social media presence and led the team’s wider media initiatives, including the creation of digital and print materials for the 2024 IQA European Games in London.

An experienced quadball player, Cornelia began her career in 2013 at Emerson College in the US, back when off-pitch seeking was still part of the game. She then spent six years with The Lost Boys, helping the team reach the Final Four at the US Nationals. Since relocating to London in 2022, she has been a core member of the Werewolves of London and most recently represented Team England at the 2025 Quadball Nations Cup.

Thomas has only been in the sport for a year, and is already making waves since debuting with Oxford University Quadball Club as a fresher.

Alongside joining the Executive Management Team as our new Secretary, Thomas has also taken on a role as Clubs Officer within QuadballUK, the Head Coach role for OUQC, debuted for Team Hong Kong at the 2025 IQA World Cup, AND founded a new London quadball club (the London Aye Ayes) all within his first year.

His insight and energy on the Executive Team is wonderful to have, and we can't wait to work alongside (and at the rate he's going probably for him)

There are some great things happening in QuadballUK, and we're excited and grateful to those who commit their time and expertise into making so much of it happen.

If you want to get stuck in, or have questions about what things need working on or improving - feel free to reach out to any of us, or drop us a message via the form below.

Thanks! And good luck to our new leadership!

New faces joining the Quadball UK Executive Management Team

Below we've outlined the gameplay adjustments for the 2025/2026 season.

This post will cover the new requirements for officials and volunteer quotas for tournaments, tie-breaker policies, and new information surrounding game bans from multiple yellow card offences.

Questions, comments, and concerns can be directed to gameplay@quidditchuk.org

Gameplay Changes Being Introduced for the 2025/2026 Season

New Referee and Volunteer Requirements

Ranking/Tiebreaking Criteria

Quadball UK Ranking Criteria and Tie Breaking Criteria

2. Final rankings: Stage of elimination - Head to Head (where applicable)

3. Highest Volleyball Point Differential (VPD), with a maximum of 90 VPD able to be accumulated from any single game.

4. Number of Winning Flag Catches (flag catches in games won either off the catch itself or in the subsequent overtime play)

Updates to Match Bans and subsequent Yellow Card offences

QuadballUK Event Discipline and Suspensions Policy

We've outlined the gameplay adjustments for the 2025/2026 season.
This post will cover the new requirements for officials and volunteer quotas for tournaments, tie-breaker policies, and new information surrounding game bans from multiple yellow card offences.
Questions, comments, and concerns can be directed to gameplay@quidditchuk.org

QUK Gameplay Updates 2025/2026

Gameplay Updates 2025/2026

This post will cover adjustments and increases to both membership and tournament fees.

The core message is that fee increases are in effect across both membership and events to reflect increasing costs. We have maintained services and programmes based on member and club feedback, and intend to utilise this increase in financial resource to support clubs as we continue to grow and develop.

We've also outlined specifically why these fees have increased, and our plans moving forward to shift the financial burden away from clubs and towards a more sustainable infrastructure - both for competitions and general membership, but also wider projects beyond the base events.

Lastly, while this is not a decision we have reached lightly, it is also important to point out that QuadballUK has not increased fees for the last two seasons.

Changes to Membership Fees

Changes to Tournament Fees

Barrier to entry is a core element of something we want to minimise, especially for new joiners to the sport, and it was vital that we maintained an easy entry point for those trying out our game for the very first time.

Quadball typically attracts individuals without sporting or athletic backgrounds - which is a fantastic thing. It introduces people to an entire new community and culture that they haven't necessarily had a chance to be a part of before and we all know how great Quadball is at allowing people to discover themselves through both the sport and this welcoming community we've built around it.

So while we have increased base membership fees, we have kept the Trial Membership (now called First Time Membership) so anyone new to the sport can still get involved via the lower financial barrier.

Simply put, our general operational costs have increased. Venues being a key culprit here - we ended our ongoing venue partnership with Sheffield after significant increased costs, but also the more general expenses surrounding the operations of an event have been growing as well. Travel and accommodation costs for volunteers are the most obvious ones, but also our general background costs have been slowly ticking up.

A less obvious one is also storage. We currently hire a storage space in the Midlands which is comparatively cheaper than other options we've researched – but it very much relies on the availability of a single volunteer. When that individual is busy or unavailable, then we suddenly cannot access our core inventory, or need to organise a more expensive option to source and/or transport the equipment – which ultimately cancels out that cheaper benefit we were previously receiving. We therefore are needing to move our equipment storage so more Volunteers have ready access to it moving forward.

BQC was a great success on the university front, and it was so refreshing to see this growth of a new generation coming through with that same passion in the sport we share.

Part of the increase in fees is so we can then turn that resource back towards the clubs. A large part of our plan revolves around club-led events - not just clubs hosting events, but QUK being able to advise and resource them through equipment or personnel. Having the funds to send a referee, or organiser, or a load of equipment to a friendly event over the weekend to support a club-led event is incredibly valuable. We want to be able to support and provide directly to clubs, and be part of the work that they are doing.

Likewise, for both Northern and Southern this year, we are hosting coaching and development workshops. We have locked these in with our respective venues, and we will be able to host and educate anyone in the community on refereeing, club leadership, coaching insights, as well as holding a training day for anyone who wishes to attend.
Being able to provide and share our expertise, while engaging directly with the next generation of players and volunteers, is an important opportunity for us – and the membership fees will allow us to achieve that.

Our current Reimbursement Policy has not been updated to reflect cost increases for several years now, and that simply isn't good enough.
We intend to raise the allowances for volunteers to better reflect the current cost of travel, accommodation, and meals while attending a tournament or completing QuadballUK projects.

Referee payments are still hanging over our head as well, and this is something we intend to clear as soon as possible. Our Head of Operations, Jake Adcock, has determined who and how much money is owed. And we can start fulfilling those payments as soon as our cash flow allows it.

The largest step Gio and I wish to see is for the financial revenue streams of both our membership and events to be independent from each other. That is to say, we aren't relying on one to supplement the other. Previously, we would run the majority of our events at either cost or a small loss, with the exception of the British Quadball Cup. BQC, in turn, was relied upon as our revenue generator, and could supplement the additional fixtures financially.


Unfortunately, with reduced attendance amidst rising costs, we no longer see this as a feasible way to continue to fund our sport. Too much reliance is placed on BQC being a financial success, and that is far too risky to sustain ourselves and actually be able to plan or budget ahead.

On the membership side, that money is typically allocated into the operational costs of running the NGB. Costs such as website and associated IT expenses, equipment storage, public liability insurance, professional subscriptions, IQA memberships etc. Previously, it was also utilised to subsidise some of the costs around training for our volunteers, as well as provide some base level of funding for our national team programmes and other ad hoc expenses as they arose.
Ultimately, we need to move away from a model that relies entirely on membership and event fees. It makes things too expensive for our members, and it makes preparation and planning impossible for QuadballUK.

Gio and I are in conversations with potential partners (who approached us) about potentially working together, and we are exploring longer-term financial and resource support moving forward. The very fact that we were approached unprompted, shows that there are going to be organisations out there wanting to work with us, which is a great potential opportunity for us to take.

Merchandise is also something we are investing back into, we will have merchandise for sale at both Northern and Southern this year. We will be taking pre orders only, but more information will be shared on this in the near future.

Charity status is also something we are working through; however, this has been placed on a temporary pause as we focus on getting the season set up and ensuring our university teams can hit the ground running.

Thank you for your understanding, a full annual report will be released soon - alongside an announcement of our Annual General Forum.


If you have any issues or questions, please reach out to myself or Gio or Izzy.
We would be happy to discuss queries or concerns.

This post will cover adjustments and increases to both membership and tournament fees. We've also outlined why these fees have increased, and our plans moving forward to shift the financial burden away from clubs and towards a more sustainable infrastructure - both for competitions and general membership, but also wider projects beyond the base events.

Youth

Youth Quadball / Quidditch

Commando Joe's Enrichment Education Services

Youth Quadball Events

Official Youth Quadball Equipment

Contact Us