Belgian Quidditch Federation

National Quidditch federation

Belgian Quidditch Federation

Abbreviation| BQF
Formation| 5 July 2012 (12 years ago) (2012-07-05)
Type| National governing body (NGB)
Legal status| Non-profit organisation, in progress
Headquarters| Brussels, Belgium

Official language

| English (de facto), Dutch, French and German

President

| Laurens Grinwis Plaat Stultjes

Vice-president External

| in process

Board of directors

| David Danos

Main organ

| Core Cabinet

Parent organization

| International Quidditch Association
Website| www.quidditchbelgium.be

Formerly called

| Belgium Muggle Quidditch (BMQ)

Belgian Quidditch Federation (French: Fédération belge de quidditch; Dutch: Belgische Quidditch Federatie; German: Belgischer Quidditchverband), or BQF, is the governing body of quidditch in Belgium. It was founded in 2012 as a Facebook page[1] to garner interest from potential players and teams within Belgium and began to take shape in 2013 with the introduction of its first two teams: Deurne Dodo's and the Brussels Qwaffles. The organisation began to take shape as a non-profit (French: ASBL; Dutch: VZW) in early 2014 with the formation of the newly-international International Quidditch Association in the form an international federation. Belgian Quidditch Federation maintains one delegate within the IQA Congress as a member of Quidditch Europe alongside Quidditch Nederland (QNL) and the Luxembourgish Quidditch Federation (FLQ). On 10 October 2014, BQF changed its name from Belgium Muggle Quidditch to its current name to better integrate with other sports in the country.[2]

## History

[edit]

Belgian Quidditch Federation began in 2012 as a Facebook page, Belgium Muggle Quidditch. In 2013, Belgium saw the foundation of its two inaugural teams: Antwerp Quidditch Club and Brussels Qwaffles. Soon the first couple tournaments came to Belgium: Brussels Muscles, an international tournament and European Quidditch Cup 2014, the regional qualifier tournament for 2014 IQA World Cup.

Following its major events, BQF became a major force in the IQA's transition into a sports federation.[3][4] With the IQA's release, Belgium as a member of Quidditch Europe was granted one delegate within the IQA Congress alongside the Netherlands' one as well representing the needs of the Benelux.[5] Moreover, BQF sent its national team, the Belgian Gryffins to the flagship tournament of the IQA: Global Games 2014\. In 2015, Belgian Gryffins participated in the European Games in Sarteano, Italy. In 2016, Belgian Gryffins competed in IQA World Cup 2016 in Frankfurt. The year after, the team participated in 2017 European Games in Oslo. In 2018, Belgian Gryffins will compete at IQA World Cup 2018, Firenze.

Not too long after the founding of the two first clubs, several clubs started to grow within Belgium. Belgium is currently an official home to seven clubs, ten teams and several unofficial clubs. Aside from personal growth, Belgium has grown as strong quidditch country, being home to the 2016 European Champion and 2018 European Silver medalist.

## Structure

[edit]

The Federation's organisational structure features the Executive Board as the heart of the non-profit. The General Assembly, a collection of the teams' presidents, vice-presidents and team managers, oversees the Executive Board. When important decisions have to be made, every team of the General Assembly gets one vote. That way Belgian Quidditch Federation keeps their decision making process democratic.

### Executive Board

[edit]

The Executive Board currently exists out of six members. The Executive board maintains the day to day supervision of Belgian Quidditch Federation.

* President: Laurens Grinwis Plaat Stultjes
* Vice-president: Lana Naudts
* Secretary: Pauline Raes
* Communications, marketing & PR Director: Lore Badts
* Financial Director: Ellen Huycke
* IT Director: Lars Peeters

### Marketing team

[edit]

Belgian Quidditch Federation also has its own marketing team. The team is under the supervision of Lore, the marketing director. The marketing team occupies itself with creating content to keep Belgian Quidditch Federation

* Branding Specialist: Jelmer Lokman

* Wallonia Advisor: Nicolas Dehez
* Content Creator: Hanne Van Tichelt
* Video Content Creator: Hanne Frederickx
* Multimedia Developer: Jan Dubois

### Belgian Gryffins

[edit]

Belgian Gryffins is the national quidditch team of Belgium.[6] The management team of the 2024 squad is:

* Team Manager: Gloria Roelants
* Assistant Manager: Hanne Van Tichelt
* Head Coach: Glenn Bellégou

### Administrative Wing

[edit]

The Administrative Wing of the Core Cabinet consists of three departmental heads: Teams, Gameplay and Communications. All three departmental heads are in charge of staff their respective department as well as overseeing the management of their department within BQF. The different departments can be broken down into smaller subdivisions where teams holds membership, expansion and development; the gameplay department has snitching, reffing, coaching and rules; and the communications department holds PR, tech, marketing and translations & interpretations.

#### Teams Department

[edit]

The director for the Teams Department is Joke Daems. Under the Team's supervision is: membership, expansion and development.

#### Gameplay Department

[edit]

Headed by Laurens Grinwis Plaat Stultjes, the Gameplay Department is staffed also by Tanghi Burlion as the Snitch Director and Gorik Verbeken as the Coaching Director.

#### Communications Department

[edit]

The Communications Department is headed by Cindy Callens, under whom there is Nicolas Volders as the Tech Director and Caroline Mailleux as the Translations & Interpretation Director.

## Competitions

[edit]

BQF, being an official member of Quidditch Europe and of Quidditch Europe, participates in three major tournaments yearly: the Neighbourhood Cup, the Belgian Cup (now known as the EQC Qualifiers) and the European Quidditch Cup. As well, being a part of the International Quidditch Association, Belgium sends its national team, the Gryffins, to the Global Games, a tournament held biennially. With the release of its competitions plan in 2014, BQF has defined official tournaments held within (and outside of) Belgium through its Gameplay Department. Teams interested in hosting official matches or tournaments must now do so through the Gameplay Director.[7]

* European Quidditch Cup
* Belgian Quidditch League

## Membership

[edit]

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2023)

|

The 2013/2014 season saw BQF have a fairly weak membership plan where players for teams paid an informal fee that went towards player/league insurance and IQA payments. The plan for the 2014/2015 season was released on 14 November 2014 where it saw a completely updated structure using terms, a period running from 1 July to 31 December and 1 January to 30 June.[7]

### Official teams

[edit]

Currently, there are no official teams in BQF as the season begins on 1 December 2015. At the moment, there are seven to eight active teams across the country, being:

* Brussels Qwaffles[8]
* Deurne Dodo's[9]
* UMonsters Quidditch Team
* Ghent Gargoyles[10]
* Les Dracognards / Quidditch Louvain-la-Neuve[11]
* Hasselt Horntails[12]
* Leuven Leprechauns[13]

#### Competitive Team

[edit]

One of three levels of membership offered is Competitive Team (CT) where teams are required to play three official matches per term. CTs are allowed to participate in the BNLC as well as EQC.[7]

#### Recreational Team

[edit]

A Recreational Team (RT) is the lowest level of playing membership where teams pay less and are required to play in fewer official matches, but they are restricted from participating in BNLC and EQC. Additionally, players on RTs must get permission before participating in national team try-outs.[7]

#### Supporter

[edit]

The final tier of membership is for those outside Belgium or are non-players within Belgium. This offers active quidditch players in other NGBs the ability to participate in national team try-outs as well as giving non-players both inside and outside Belgium the ability to support BQF financially with potential benefits not yet designated.[7]

## National team

[edit]

Main article: Belgium national quidditch team

BQF also hosts a national team, the Belgian Gryffins. They made their debut at the 2014 IQA Global Games in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on 19 July 2014.[14][15] Due to lack of resources for the country's best players to make it to Vancouver and the limited roster available,[16] Team Belgium came in seventh of seven place at the Games, ultimately forfeiting their final match against the USA due to numerous injuries the team faced.[17][18]

As of the 2014/2015 season, the national team saw a few updates. Now, it is on a yearly turn-over rate where individuals must try-out every year they wish to participate. Whilst the season technically ends every 30 June, any tournament involving the national team held in July will be considered to be a part of the previous season. Individuals wishing to try out must be a part of a CT of that season. Those on an RT must be granted permission by the VP Internal of their region as well as the Teams Director before being allowed to try out. Any Belgian citizen living outside Belgium and an active participant in quidditch activities is able to try out with the purchase of Supporter membership at the approval of the VP External.[7]

## See also

[edit]

* Belgium portal

* Muggle quidditch
* International Quidditch Association
* Sport in Belgium

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "First post on BQF's Facebook page". Facebook. 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
2. ^ "BQF Name Change Press Release". Belgian Quidditch Federation. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
3. ^ "New IQA announcement". US Quidditch. Archived from the original on 2014-03-22. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
4. ^ "About the IQA". IQA. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
5. ^ "The International Quidditch Association". IQA. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
6. ^ "National team". Belgian Quidditch Federation. 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
7. ^ a b c d e f "Membership Plan Announcement". Belgian Quidditch Federation. November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
8. ^ "Brussels Qwaffles Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
9. ^ "Deurne Dodo's Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
10. ^ "Ghent Gargoyles Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
11. ^ "Les Dracognards / Quidditch Louvain-la-Neuve Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
12. ^ "Hasselt Horntails Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
13. ^ "Leuven Leprechauns Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
14. ^ "IQA Global Games". US Quidditch. Archived from the original on 31 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
15. ^ "BKL5 à Bruxelles : ils se préparent aux Jeux Mondiaux de Quidditch". SudOuest. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
16. ^ "Les IQA Global Games 2014". La Gazette du Sorcier. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
17. ^ "Les Resultats des Global Games 2014". PotterMag. Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
18. ^ "Team USA Wins Gold at Quidditch Global Games 2014". Vancity Buzz. 29 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.

## External links

[edit]

Belgium

* Official website
* BQF Facebook Page
* BQF Twitter
* Belgian Gryffins, Belgium national quidditch team's Facebook Page
* Belgian Gryffins Twitter

International Quidditch Association

* IQA Quidditch Website

* v
* t
* e

Sports governing bodies in Belgium (BEL)

Summer Olympic sports|

* Aquatics
* diving
* swimming
* synchronized swimming
* water polo
* Archery
* Athletics
* Badminton
* Basketball
* Boxing
* Canoeing
* Cycling
* Equestrian
* Fencing
* Field hockey
* Football
* Golf
* Gymnastics
* Handball
* Judo
* Modern pentathlon
* Rugby 7's
* Rowing
* Sailing
* Shooting
* Table tennis
* Taekwondo
* Tennis
* Triathlon
* Volleyball
* inc. beach volleyball
* Weightlifting
* Wrestling

Winter Olympic sports|

* Biathlon
* Bobsleigh
* Curling
* Skating
* figure
* speed
* short track
* Ice hockey
* Luge
* Skeleton
* Skiing
* Alpine
* cross country
* Nordic combined
* freestyle
* jumping
* Snowboarding

Other IOC recognised sports|

* Air sports
* Bandy
* Baseball
* Billiard sports
* Boules
* Bowling
* Bridge
* Chess
* Cricket
* Dance sport
* Floorball
* Karate
* Korfball
* Lifesaving
* Motorcycle racing
* Motorsport
* Mountaineering and climbing
* Netball
* Orienteering
* Pelota vasca
* Polo
* Powerboating
* Racquetball
* Roller sports
* Rugby union
* Softball
* Sport climbing
* Squash
* Sumo
* Surfing
* Tug of war
* Underwater sports
* Water ski
* Wushu

Paralympic sports|

Other sports|

* Rugby league
* Quidditch

* Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee
* Belgian Paralympic Committee

* v
* t
* e

Quidditch

* International Quadball Association

National governing bodies|

* Australia
* Belgium
* Canada
* Netherlands
* United Kingdom
* United States

International competitions|

| World Cup|

* Oxford 2012
* Burnaby 2014
* Frankfurt 2016
* Florence 2018
* Richmond 2023

|

European Games|

* Sarteano 2015
* Oslo 2017
* Bamberg 2019
* Limerick 2022

Pan-American Games|

* Richmond 2019
* Lima 2022

Club competitions|

* Asian Cup
* European Cup
* British Cup
* Northern and Southern Cups

US Cup|

* I
* II
* III
* IV
* V
* VI
* VII
* 8
* 9
* 10
* 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024

Non-IQA leagues|

* Major League
* Premier League
* Quadball Nations Cup

Teams|

| National|

* Australia
* Belgium
* Canada
* Spain
* United Kingdom
* England
* Scotland
* Wales
* United States

|

Clubs|

* Oxford University QC
* Wollongong Warriors
* Münster Marauders

See also
Magical Quidditch
Quidditch in Canada
Quidditch in Australia
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