| Daily Prophet: 16 July, 2003 |
[Jul. 16th, 2010|10:54 am] |
Quidditch World Cup Continues
Erastus Saint
Fans are already queued up or filing into stadiums around the country for today's second rounds of Quidditch World Cup preliminary games. Today's games are battles between Germany and Portugal, Peru and France, Australia and New Zealand, and Bulgaria and Ireland.
The match between Australia and New Zealand promises to be explosive, as these teams are old rivals and play in a combined league during the regular season. However, most eyes in Britain are on the Irish team today. After the impressive victories by both the English and Scottish team earlier this week, the pressure is on Ireland to bring home a win that is just as impressive. Bulgaria, a strong team in their own right, is looking to thwart this with the return of Viktor Krum in position as Seeker. As many know, Krum relocated to England several years ago, but as a player his loyalties still lie with his Bulgarian teammates.
Tune in to the WWN for full day Quidditch World Cup coverage.
Quidditch Q & A
Stenton Fenley
With big successes for both the English and Scottish teams in this week's first preliminary Quidditch World Cup games, we at The Daily Prophet began a new daily column; a quick question and answer session, new each day, with a member of one of our national teams. Today's interview, in honour of their first game this afternoon, is Teagan Moran, veteran of the Irish National Team and the Ballycastle Bats. Read on for her answers.
Miss Moran, first we'll start with something simple. What's your middle name?
Roisin. Me mum says it's a family name.
What's your favourite colour?
I do like orange! Oh, and a pretty green like celery.
Favourite food?
I've got to pick a favorite? You'd do better to ask me what I don't like. But I suppose if you've got to have an answer, I can never say no to a good slice of pecan pie.
Favourite shop?
Would it surprise you if I said Quality Quidditch? It wouldn't? Well. Who likes surprises anyway?
Tell us something about you not everyone knows?
You're asking me to give away my secrets now? Bloody hell. How's about... Well. I've just about broken every single bone in my body- save for my left index finger.
What's your family like?
Loud. Obnoxious. I feel for anyone who's got to sit around a family dinner. But honestly, they're the best I could have asked for. We don't all get to see each other much these days, we're all off doing our own thing my siblings and I, but we try and make it home once a week or so for a good meal. I grew up surrounded with Quidditch and I've been immersed in the sport since before I could walk. I consider myself incredibly lucky.
What do you love about Quidditch?
It is one of the top ways to get your aggression out. I've never felt more relaxed and rejuvenated than after a particularly thrilling match. But it also gives me this intense feeling of freedom. There is just something about being out in the air like that. It's amazing.
How did you feel, knowing you'd made the National Team?
I think I might have lost it when I first got word. Making a seasonal team, especially a team like the Bats, was something I worked really hard for. But when I was asked to play as Chaser for the Irish National? I was speechless. You never think you're that good, you know? Just lucky. But the National Team sort of cements your talent. Let's you know you're really doing well. It's been amazing so far.
Which international teams do you think will do well, other than the UK teams?
Germany seems to do well every go 'round, don't they? Lucky bastards. I'm hoping to see a rise out of some of the Asian teams. Maybe Japan this year. That'd be interesting to see.
Do you have anything to say to your fans?
Thank you. If there is anything I can say, it would be that. I don't think I would have made it this far if it weren't for my fan mail. I'm incredibly blessed to have such devoted fans. Even you lot who ask for signatures in weird places. I even like you.
Pick up your copy of the Daily Prophet tomorrow for a new interview with a National team player, brought to you every day during the Quidditch World Cup! |
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[Jun. 23rd, 2010|03:47 pm] |
Quidditch World Cup Rosters and Schedules Announced
Stenton Fenley
On Sunday, the Quidditch World Cup rosters were released to the teams, and now that all members have been informed, we can release them to you! Holyhead duo Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell will be leading the England chasers along with Falmouth standout Blaise Zambini, while Cho Chang heads the Seeker position. The Irish lineup, which has become that of a household name in the past years, are all back for their third World Cup together. And Puddlemere captain Oliver Wood will be manning the rings for Scotland.
Here's the full breakdown of the UK Teams. You can find all of the team rosters on page 3C.
( England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales )
Along with the rosters, the World Cup commitee has given us a copy of the schedule of matches! World Cup commitee head Kyle Jugson says that this is a very important Cup to help bring the Wizarding UK back to the financial forefront. "All preliminary matches will be held in the various professional stadiums of the British/Irish league, with the semi finals and final matches being played in a newly constructed stadium in the valleys of South Wales. The last time the UK hosted a World Cup, it ended in disaster. This time, we hope to end it in peace."
Tickets for the cup have been on sale for a few weeks, but this is the first time that fans get to see who exactly is playing the matches.
( Schedule and Dates of the World Cup matches )
(*ooc note: bette asked me to post this cause she's still having computer issues. yes, i know, there's some teams playing back to back in some matches. but there's a few days gap in between. i'll post up something in the ooc about which teams play at what stadium so everyone is on the same page.*) |
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| Today's Quidditch: Slytherin Vs. Hufflepuff |
[Apr. 4th, 2010|03:37 pm] |
It was a rather subdued crowd who filled the stands for the fifth game of the season, Hufflepuff versus Slytherin. That wasn't allowed, however, to dampen the spirits of the competing teams. Captains Smith and Vaisey led their teams onto the field amid rather lackluster cheers, but once the game was started the sense of excitement that cannot help but come at Quidditch matches slowly filled the Pitch.
( The Chaser teams of Moon, Smith and Cadwallader versus Vaisey, Zabini, and Bulstrode seemed evenly matched ) |
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| February 20th Quidditch: Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor - Backdated like crazy. |
[Mar. 10th, 2010|09:55 pm] |
The morning was uncharacteristically warm for a February day, hinting at the fact that soon Spring would be upon them. The students of Hogwarts, however, had no interest in the changing of the seasons as they piled into the Quidditch stands to watch Gryffindor house face off against Hufflepuff.
Madam Hooch began the game, and they were off. The Gryffindor Chasing team of Frobisher, Robins, and Thomas proved their skill against Hufflepuff’s Cadwallder, Smith, and Moon straight off – owning the Pitch for a fast round of goals, and dragging the score to 40-0 for Gryffindor. Keeper Jones blocked a good four more goals from the Gryffindor trio before Hufflepuff’s Cadwallader finally took control of the quaffle to score Hufflepuff’s first goal of the game.
( For a few minutes, things seemed to be changing in Hufflepuff's favor ) |
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| Daily Prophet: January 31, 1998 |
[Jan. 31st, 2010|04:58 pm] |
Quidditch Quarrels
Betty Braithwaite
Quidditch has long been a standard in the wizarding world, and British teams boast some of the most skilled and dedicated athletes in the world. The sport is a safe haven for families to take their children as a form of entertainment and family outings, and players are held to the highest standards.
In recent years, however, there have been increasing concerns about the moral decline in players, who serve as role models to so many young wizards. "You can't just bring your son to the matches anymore, can you?" one longtime fan asked during a recent interview. "The sort of players that take to the Pitch now - they attract the worst sorts of fans, and I just don't want to expose my son to that."
Her concerns are echoed by many. In just the most recent and blatant display, the Wimbourne Wasps, a team whose starting lineup has been recently in talks for increased salaries, despite spotty play records and the coaches' desire to shake up the team's performance by ending a number of contracts, staged a blatant political stunt. In what was said to be a bid on behalf of muggleborn wizards, the team refused to take the air for their most recent match against the well-regarded Caerphilly Catapults. Instead, the team, dressed in scanty and blatantly scandalous clothing and bearing signs with vulgar slogans, paraded onto the Pitch and staged a sit in. "Quite frankly, no one knew what it was they were trying to accomplish," one baffled viewer told the Prophet. "There were a half dozen wizards there who'd already gone through the Ministry's checkpoint, and were trying to tell them that it was a matter of safety for everyone that the Ministry was cracking down, but they just wouldn't listen. If you ask me, it was all just a play for a bit of free press. The Wasps are starting to sink as low as the Cannons, these days."
He wasn't alone in this view. While the Catapults acted with dignity and retired the field with apologies to their fans, the Wasps refused to go, nearly inciting a riot when a stray bludger they'd taken onto the Pitch hit a young onlooker, who was rushed to St. Mungo's for Healing. The ploy may have won them attention, but it lost them not just the match, but an additional 100 points from their record, as decided by the head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
"This kind of behavior won't be tolerated," representatives of the Wasps told us. As of this printing, four of the six starting players for the Wasps had been released from their contracts and disbarred from the Quidditch Association, with the fate of the remaining players uncertain. The released players could not be reached for comment.
Disappointed fans who had to leave the stadium without seeing the match told us that they were glad for the ruling, and hoped that it would help bring standards back to the League. |
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| Yesterday's Quidditch Match |
[Jan. 24th, 2010|12:02 pm] |
It was a cold day, and still clouded and dark as the Quidditch teams took to the Pitch. But as the students had been starved for excitement since returning from Holidays, any bystander would have thought that the crowd couldn’t feel the chill at all. Though there had been some question as to whether or not Quidditch would continue, now that it was here students seemed able to forget the horror of the world outside the Pitch and focus, at least for a few hours, on the game.
The Slytherin team entered to hisses from three houses, and rousing cheers from their own, and Ravenclaw entered to the inverse - three houses cheering and the Slytherin stands looking up at them murderously.
( Quidditch: Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin ) |
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| Quidditch: Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff |
[Dec. 12th, 2009|05:29 pm] |
The weather was uncharacteristically warm for a December morning this close to Christmas, and the unexpected warming, even if it was only slight, seemed to lift the dark mood that seemed to sit every day over the castle now as the Quidditch teams took the field. It was nothing short of a renewed sort of excitement. There had been too much worry in the students' hearts as of late; too much death, too much studying, and they took this chance to enjoy themselves seriously in its possibilities.
( Quidditch: Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff ) |
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| Quidditch: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin |
[Nov. 22nd, 2009|01:06 pm] |
Who: Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch
What: Game
Where: Pitch
When: Saturday
( Quidditch: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin )
Final score after one hour and fifteen minutes of game play: Slytherin 220, Gryffindor 110. |
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