FIRST THE ‘PRIDE’, THEN THE FALL! APPLEBY HEARTACHE IN PORTREE
METEORIC HARPIES TAKE THE REINS
PUDDLEMISERY FALL FLAT AGAINST WOEFUL BALLYCASTLE
CHUDLEY COME OUT GUNS BLAZING
Week 9 & 10 of the British and Irish Quidditch League have come packed to brim with the skill and class that one might see in the world’s premier quidditch tournament – of course don’t tell the French that! – and we’re so excited to share with you two weeks of top quality flying and sports news all in one go
We begin our Week 9 summary with a scintillating match between Appleby and the Pride of Portree, two teams in top form. Portree had been watching well though, and reports throughout the season that they’d very tactically left Wizards of their own staff among the crowds at each match are beginning to draw a bit of attention after they managed to shut out Appleby’s chasers the entire game, the trio of arrows – whilst usually relatively prolific, especially this season – shooting wide as they were zoned away from the hoops for most of the game! They finally managed to get points on the board at the end of the game when they pulled back a thrashing and turned it into a close game by points – 220 Portree 150 Appleyby! Speaking with Francis ‘Franco’ Carlisle, Manager of the Pride after the game, the man was grinning and carrying a bottle of something fruity, though what with the man’s reputation for fisticuffs I daren’t ask him what, sticking with exclusively Quidditch based questions! “Where does the team go from here Franco?”
How did the supreme mind behind the Pride’s meteoric rise respond? With a grin. “Ay well, free tourney now we’s up here,” (those of you who have never heard a thick Glaswegian accent will never understand how difficult it was to get this written up for you all!) “Just keep buildin’, and mind our youth prospects don’t lose an arm ay?” Franco grinned as he finished speaking and lifted his bottle to his lips, heading into the changing rooms followed by Team Captain ‘Faustus Saddlebow’, who lifted his arm and dangled it about as though it had lost all feeling, grinning the entire while. Perhaps a hint at things to come from this high flying team?
Our next game was an unsurprising affair and did well to temper the mood of viewers in the stadium after the thorough routing Portree supplied for the league leaders. There was little hope for Puddlemere, whose dreadful season is only being overshadowed by the fall of the mighty Bats alongside them, and when Falmouth put them to the sword with an ever impressive display of 590 to 380. There wasn’t much to be said about this game, with even the ever present Barry Fletcher, manager for the mighty Falcons not present, though if reports are to be believed, a far more exciting match was his destination…
Indeed, reports place Barry Fletcher watching the incredible demolition of the Montrose Magpies as the meteoric rise of the bulldozer that we like to call ‘the Holyhead Harpies’ got up to what they do the best, and put Montrose to the sword like the team of school children. Reports say that Fletcher was busy scouting one ‘Persephone Vitrac’, continuing rumoured efforts from last year to draw her to the Falcons. If this is true, he’s no doubt impressed as the rookie scored ten well deserved shots against the Magpies in a game that was barely a contest. 390 Holyhead, 10 Montrose!
In another near rout, the Kenmare Kestrels found themselves dominating an eager Wigtown side, fresh off of their last game and eager to get some more points onto the board and to ascend like so many others so far. Lady Luck however had her bets hedged for the Wanderers, with their seeker catching the snitch within the 32nd minute of the game, give or take a few seconds, granting them a close win on points! 180 Wigtown, 140 Kenmare.
Across the country spectators were treated to a far closer spectacle, with the Banchory Bangers putting on a brilliant show with Tutshill, the pair neck and neck throughout the entire game – a four hour ordeal keep in mind! After watching some fantastic quidditch in cold Banchory winter weather, myself and the rest of the crowd couldn’t hold our jubilation as the Bangers caught the snitch and brought a tight game to a close! 400 Banchory, 260 Tutshill!
Wimbourne meanwhile put to sword Ballycastle, who almost looked like they were in a headwind of their previous form from last year’s tournament. Racing out of the block, Ballycastle looked like a tight outfit, scoring 150 points on Wimbourne within the first 12 minutes of the game in a fine display! Ballycastle controlled the rest of the game, keeping Wimbourne mostly out of the equation, until a fell swoop and a drop off of his broom earned Wimbourne a Seeker with a broken arm and victory over the League’s victors last season, catching the snitch in scintillating, if not painful style! Speaking to Mary Kilcannon, Ballycastle manager and head coach after the game, the once Holyhead stock barely gave us any answers to our questions, muttering. “Utterly ridiculous.” As she made her way into the changing rooms to give her team a stern word!
Finally, the most exciting game of Week 9 of the season, where the Chudley Cannons came out firing, playing in a form that many had thought impossible for the team who held the world’s woes in the palms of their hands. Caerphilly looked to put on the pain almost instantly, as they scored four shots on the hoops within ten minutes, bringing the score to 40 to nothing. But suddenly, as though rockets had been strapped to their broomsticks Chudley began to…become an organised unit. One wouldn’t be able to blame Caerphilly for simply letting the shock get to them, but it seemed that they had finally found themselves in an actual game, and one they would lose – badly! With dominance in possession, field position and so much more, Chudley finally ended Caerphilly’s beating by catching the snitch in text book fashion. 690 to the magnificent Chudley Cannons, 220 to a stunned Caerphilly Catapults team!
Week 10 came out itself with a bang, despite the table showing a far closer swing of results. Falmouth taking on Appleby in a game that had been hotly anticipated, one would not be unfair to say that Arrows fans were sorely unhappy with the performance their team had put in, Falmouth demolishing them with an impressive scoreline of 400 to 130, practically locking the Arrows out of the competition and keeping them trapped within their half.
Meanwhile, after a stern talking to last week by Manager Kilcannon, Ballycastle came back from a victory stolen from them to secure it for themselves in a hard fought contest between themselves and Puddlemere – with many pointing out that this victory is little of a surprise, and that the Bats are still not on form if they haven’t managed to put away Puddlemere by a higher margin. Bats fans remain unimpressed, and reports from ourselves of them potentially looking to sign three stars from the French League has them foaming at the mouth, eager for new blood on a team that can’t seem to get itself going this year. 600 Ballycastle, 530 Puddlemere!
Meanwhile fans of Chudley who think that perhaps this season is the time to break the streak can put down their memorabilia and what not as their team were trounced in a demolishing by Montrose, who were clearly eager to put down any thoughts of a new upstart team within the league. With some quick moves, the Magpies held all the firepower in a monstrous 450 to 100 win against the Cannons.
Another fall came from the Pride of Portree, who were only just responsible for the defeat of the previous league frontrunners, only to receive a stinging defeat by the Wimbourne Wasps, who played expert, scintillating Quidditch to beat the Pride of Portree after a fantastic snitch catch within the first hour of play closed the game out. 620 Wasps, 460 Portree!
Elsewhere in the league, the Banchory Bangers found themselves in a true test against frontrunners and experienced team Holyhead, taking the league leaders into a game that they looked likely to lose. The bangers played with all of their heart, scoring many beautiful goals and securing their position as a team to be respected in the league. It was only through the expert work of Holyhead’s seeker that secured the win for the team, Banchory having come within 5 more scores from keeping the Harpies out of the game entirely, snitch catch or not. 500 to Holyhead, 460 to Banchory!
In another close contest Tutshill took on the Kenmare Kestrels in a great contest, neither side looking like they were due to overpower the other. A game of true skill between two teams that knew little of the glory the likes of Holyhead and the Falcons knew, instead playing to the fundamentals of quidditch. This was a gruelling game, one full of heart and drama, and by the end of the three hour stint where some incredible play kept the score down to three digits, not even halfway to the dreaded 1000 point game Kenmare walked away with the victory. 470 Kenmare, 360 Tutshill.
And at last, unlike Week 9, Week 10 saw itself out with a strange hiccup of a game. Lasting only 20 minutes unlike other games across the season, A resurgent Caerphilly team, eager to show themselves after their dismantling last week by the Cannons managed to catch the Snitch versus a relatively lackluster Wigtown side within that time frame, whilst a solid defensive rock by Caerphilly’s keeper kept the Wanderers from getting anywhere near keeping them out of the game. After a bit of uproar about the game ending so soon, supporters soon quietened down as Caerphilly rolled out some of their benchwarmer players and Wigtown brought out their bin juice to both create teams to fill the next hour of fan’s time, making it an evening to remember! 150 Caerphilly, 30 Wigtown!
That about rounds up the last two weeks of Quidditch, but thank you for joining us, and we’re looking forward to seeing you next week!