Christmas Cup 2015 Announced

The Quidditch Post can today reveal that the 2015 Christmas Cup, whilst still being supported by and bearing Oxford University Quidditch Club’s (OUQC) brand, will be hosted by a combined committee of Warwick Quidditch Club and the Bristol Brizzlepuffs, in War Memorial Park, Coventry, UK, from 28-29 Nov. 2015. Sign-up details have not been released at this time.  

The tournament is slated to have 192 participants, the same as last year’s event, and will consist of group stages and bracket play. The tournament is unique in that a significant proportion of the spaces are reserved for players new to the sport since the end of the summer, and all captaincy positions will be allocated to those with no previous experience of leadership. 

The 2014 Christmas Cup logo, designed by Ellie Aaen, courtesy of Oxford University Quidditch Club.
The 2015 Christmas Cup logo has not been released at this time.

“This is something that OUQC had been planning for a while,” said OUQC president and tournament director of the first Christmas Cup, David Dlaka. “Christmas Cup is all about getting new players involved in quidditch, and it provides an easier learning environment. A lot of people have joined quidditch primarily through tournaments, and sometimes that can be daunting, especially when you’re the new kid playing with ~and~ against legends. Christmas Cup aims to flatten that learning curve and make the sport a bit more accessible to the brand new. That said, we felt like Oxford was already a well-established name in quidditch, and both the tournament and it’s mission could be much better utilized if OUQC decided to hand off the tournament to a new host.”
Father Quidmas could not be reached for comment at this time.
The Quidditch Post looks forward to working with the event managers in the build up to Christmas Cup 2015, and are excited to bring our readers further news, announcements, and analysis from this and other major events.

Dlaka explained that the process was an invitational one, with the idea being that the two emerging clubs selected would be an ideal choice for the vision of the tournament.

“While considering how to hand off the tournament, we decided to do it by invitation, and to extend that invitation to OUQC’s very own Hooch Initiative (a QUK-organised programme that gives emerging clubs a more established ‘mentor’ club to guide them through their first year) teams – Bristol and Warwick,” said Dlaka. “Both teams agreed and so far have had excellent co-operation, even better than I originally expected. A short bid was done simply to choose the location of the tournament, and it was decided to hold it in Coventry War Memorial Park.”

When asked about the role OUQC will play in this year’s tournament, Dlaka was keen to stress that it will be very much in Bristol and Warwick’s hands, though OUQC’s resources will never be too far away if needed.

“The teams also agreed to receive large support from OUQC in various ways,” said Dlaka. “That said, the tournament will solely be organized and run by Bristol and Warwick, but the OUQC stamp of approval (and guarantee of quality) will be there as I myself will be advising the tournament committee on matters. Having been involved in last year’s Christmas Cup, and the wildly successful Valentines Cup II last year as tournament director, I have quite a bit of experience to share with the committee and look forward to a fruitful cooperation! Bristol and Warwick have got a great tournament lined up this November, and it’ll be ~the~ tournament to look out for this season if you’re new to the sport!”

Scarlet Hughes (Warwick) and Luke Stevens (Bristol) will be co-tournament directors. Other committee positions that have so far been confirmed are: James Hewitt (Warwick) as Treasurer, Hannah Dignum (Warwick) and Dominic Ayre (Bristol) as joint Gameplay Directors, Darius Fattahi (Warwick) as First Aid, Jodie Mee (Bristol) and Matthew Nugent (Bristol) as joint Merchandise coordinators, Tom Ower as Press Coordinator (Bristol), and Seb Waters (Warwick) as Hospitality Coordinator.

Co-Tournament Director Scarlet Hughes, from Warwick, was pleased to confirm the collaboration.

“Thanks to OUQC for providing our clubs with the opportunity to host this amazing tournament,” said Hughes. “We hope that we can uphold and grow the reputation which Christmas Cup and other fantasy tournaments hosted by OUQC have created.”

Bristol captain, and Christmas Cup Press Coordinator Tom Ower was similarly enthusiastic.

“We are very excited to be working alongside Warwick Quidditch Club on this new project,” said Ower. “The first Christmas Cup was a big success and gave freshers last year an insight to how wonderful the Quidditch community really is, and we take our hats off to David Dlaka and OUQC for pulling that off. We hope that we can take care of OUQC’s baby and provide an equally impressive tournament.”