Our history

The Victorian Quidditch Association was founded in 2011 and was composed of one team – the Melbourne Manticores. Many of the Manticores were chosen to represent Australia in the International Quidditch Association’s Quidditch Olympics, held in Oxford, UK in 2012, in which the Australian squad won the bronze medal.

In 2013, the Victorian Quidditch Association expanded to four teams. The Melbourne Manticores were joined by the Wrackspurts Quidditch Club, the Monash Muggles and the Blackburn Basilisks. These teams competed in Winter League 2013, held in Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne, in which the Manticores were crowned premiers and the Basilisks took second place.

The Victoria Cup competition began in October 2013, welcoming two new teams – the Northern Direwolves and the Melbourne Unicorns – to make it six in total for the Victorian Quidditch Association (two university teams and four community teams). The Monash Muggles were crowned the winners of The Victoria Cup 2013/2014 and went on to win Melbourne MudBash 2014. The year was wrapped up with Easton Shield where the South Melbourne Centaurs made their debut, and which gave the Blackburn Basilisks their first win.

However, a new power was on the horizon. 2017 saw the newly minted Whomping Willows take 1st place in the Victoria Cup season. The Willows then went on to defeat the defending champions the Wrackspurts Quidditch Club the national championships held at the AIS in Canberra. Victoria also welcomed the Monash Mudbloods, the second team to the Monash Muggles. At the state level, Victoria continued their representative dominance taking home the State Shield Championship during a tournament of torrential rain in Brisbane, QLD.

Despite the sad departure of Quaffle champions, The Wrackspurts QC, 2018 saw the largest Vic cup played yet. With the arrival of the Ravens Q.C and South Melbourne adding a second team with the Minotaurs there were a total of 10 teams playing in the tournament.

The QUAFFLE national tournament continued to be dominated by victorian teams. This year the sunshine coast saw a thrilling Manticores victory over Sydney Unspeakables which came down to snitch catch. While dominant at QUAFFLE victoria was unable to convert in state shield narrowly losing to the NSW bluetongues for the first time.

In 2019, The VQA hosted the state shield for the first time at Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham. 5 teams from 3 states battled for the glory of the shield, with the Victorian Honey Eaters making their debut. The Victorian Leadbeaters, looking to reclaim victory after the defeat of the previous year, lead a challenging series, yet were ultimately defeated in a tight finals against the NSW bluetongues.

Victoria Cup received a format overhaul with the tournament being separated into two distinct divisions. Monash performed amazingly, with the Monash Muggles winning victory in division 1, and the Monash Mudbloods winning division 2. Monash continued their season dominance by winning Melbourne Mudbash. Alas the tournament was smaller than the previous year with the folding of the La Trobe Trolls and the South Melbourne Minotaurs

Four of Melbournes teams then travelled to sydney for the QUAFLE national tournament. All four teams succeeded in making it to the upper bracket. The finals match resulted in a titanic clash between the Melbourne Manticores and the Monash Muggles, with the Muggles eking out victory with a snitch catch in a tight finish.

Alas like most things in 2020, quidditch was put on hiatus. The emergence of the Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns ensured that competitive quidditch was unable to be held this year.

2021 went similar to the previous year, on and off lockdowns saw a reduction in the amount of quidditch being played. VIC Cup was held but cut short with the season unable to be finished. The number of teams dropped down to 4 from 8 due to the long hiatus. Several successful community days were able to be held however with the highlight being QUAFFLE replacement weekend held at La Trobe university.

2014 ended with the VQA sending four teams to the national QUAFL championships in Sydney – their largest contingent yet. Of those four teams, three placed in the top four, with the trophy being won by our very own Melbourne Manticores.

Sadly in 2015 we said goodbye to the Northern Direwolves, but welcomed a new team to the fray – the La Trobe Trolls. This year we ran The Victoria Cup 2015, which was won by the Melbourne Manticores. We held our third Melbourne MudBash, and also Charity Cup, which supported the Stroke Foundation. We achieved a landmark feat by hosting QUAFL in Melbourne for the first time, in association with the Monash Muggles. This gave back-to-back championships to our own Manticores, and a very successful tournament, showing just how far we’ve come as an organisation.

In 2016, the VQA again took big leaps and bounds in the Australian and International quidditch scene. The Victorian Leadbeaters, our state team, represented Victoria across three State of Origin weekends throughout the year and claimed the prestigious title over the NSW Bluetongue Wizards. Eleven members of the Victorian community across four teams were selected further to represent Australia at the 2016 IQA Quidditch World Cup. Australia beat the USA by snitch catch to take out the world title.

At a local level, the Melbourne Manticores took out a very successful Victoria Cup season over the Wrackspurts QC. Six of the VQA’s seven then travelled to Quidditch Australia’s QUAFL, the Australian National Tournament, of which the Wrackspurts Quidditch Club placed 1st, Monash Muggles 3rd, Melbourne Manticores 4th, Blackburn Basilisks in the top 8, with the South Melbourne Centaurs and Melbourne Unicorns narrowly missing out on bracket play.

To top off a very successful 2016, the Melbourne Mudbash was run for the 4th consecutive year establishing itself as a permanent fixture on the Victorian quidditch calendar. The tournament ended in crowning the Melbourne Manticores champions.