Portland Augureys Drop from QCON

By Jordan Kubichek

The Portland Augureys have announced this week that they will be removing themselves from Quidditch Conference of the Northwest (QCON) competition due to a dwindling player base.

“We regret that we cannot continue competing as our own team,” said Benji B’Shalom, co-captain of the Augureys. “With several of our players moving away, we no longer have enough people to even scrape together small rosters for events.”

Tasha Robertson echoed B’Shalom’s sentiment.

“It's hard, because we're passionate about our team and continuing with quidditch in Portland. We just don't have the turnout we need to keep running our own team, and now both Benji and I are busy with work and school,” Tasha Robertson said.

The Portland Augureys played against the Rain City Raptors at the second Northwest Regional Championship | Photo credit: Tasha Kiri Photography

Some Augureys players are finding a home nearby with the Rain City Raptors of Seattle, Washington. Many of the Portland players have been participating in USQ official games as members of the Raptors and will also play as Raptors in QCON competition. They will be doing this by taking advantage of a recent QCON standard that allows one roster swap per season.

Mitch Hatfield, co-commissioner of QCON and Raptors player, is encouraging of the shift.

"Though we are sad to see Portland leave QCON competition, we are hopeful Portland quidditch will come out of this stronger than ever.” he said. “The players will receive the playing time they need to continue to promote the sport of quidditch in Portland."

The Augureys captains are also hopeful for the future.

“The team has enjoyed playing with the Raptors for USQ and I'm excited for the opportunities it will give our players,” Robertson said.

The Augureys are the Northwest’s oldest community team and if things go as planned, they will not be gone for long.

“We're grateful to Rain City for taking us in and to the QCON directors for working with us through our roster struggles.” B’Shalom said. “Hopefully at some point we'll be able to rebuild and get a Portland team on the pitch again.”