WIMBOURNE WASPS CROWNED 2012 CHAMPIONS

Wimbourne Wasps - 690* vs Appleby Arrows - 410

	Wasps	Arrows
Keeper	Brookstanton (C)	Delaney
Chasers	Pippins	Fladbury (C)
	Branstone	Cauldwell
	Johnston	Comstock
Beaters	Nutt	Flitley
	Oddpick	Belcher
Seeker	Vogler	Sapworthy

“(The Wimbourne Wasps) are alleged to have taken their name from a nasty incident which occurred during a match against the Appleby Arrows in the mid-seventeenth century, when a Beater flying past a tree on the edge of the pitch noticed a wasps' nest among the branches and batted it towards the Arrows' Seeker, who was so badly stung that he had to retire from the game. Wimbourne won and thereafter adopted the wasp as their lucky emblem.”
Kennilworthy Whisp - “Quidditch Through The Ages”

There are no words I can say which better that better encapsulate the intense rivalry between the Wimbourne Wasps and Appleby Arrows than that iconic story. It really is the perfect Grand Final. Just three years ago British Quidditch’s greatest rivals met in a Grand Final, and it was the Arrows won in an anticlimactically short bout thanks to Ava Mustaq taking the snitch inside the first hour.

But here we go with it all over again. For the Wasps, the dominant team of not just this but a number of the most recent seasons, failure was not an option. Retribution for 2009 had to be achieved at all costs. For the Arrows, there was no pressure. After last year’s performance, reaching the Grand Final was an unexpected success, and they came into the match as underdogs.

But once you’re there, Grand Final defeat is always the most horrible thing in the world and must be avoided. The exciting thing was, there was every chance the Arrows could successfully complete this massive achievement, for they have been not just the Wasps’ rival team in recent years, but their bogey team.

The 2009 Grand Final may have been short, but their Round 6 match this year was not. But they both had Appleby victory in common. The Arrows won 770-710 in what remained the Wasps one and only loss of the season leading into the Grand Final. If you were a believer in fate, in omens, you could almost justify Apple favouritism.

Naturally, neither manager considered making any changes to their on-fire teams. Maeve Halcyeone and Amos Golpalott can both be proud of successful years. Their job is done, not it was all down to the fourteen men and women on the pitch in the biggest (annual) day in the world of Quidditch.

When the brooms up call came, Jadzia Johnston was first to the Quaffle and before Perecles Delaney knew what had hit him, the Wasps were 10-0 up.

It was a very good sign for Wasps fans that their troops were not nervous. But as ever, the Arrows rose against their great rivals. Even at something resembling their best, the Wasps still did not have it their own way.

For the first hour it was Wimbourne who led, but only narrowly. Their Chasers and legendary Keeper Apollo Brookstanton had their opposite numbers’ numbers. But it was always going to be the Beater contest that captured the imagination here. Erasmus Oddpick, Gaius Nutt, Gifford Belcher and Ragmar Flitley are arguably the four best Beaters in the league, but undoubtedly the two greatest pairs. Two time premiers Belcher and Flitley are the old masters though and took this opportunity to once and for all put to bed any doubts over their continued supremacy.

As the Arrows’ Quaffle unit rallied on the back of their boys’ mighty Bludging, the margin narrowed until early in the third hour, Appleby hit the front for the first time.

But they would not stay there, despite continued dominance, for the supposedly aging Brookstanton was pulling off remarkable feats of agility, combined with his trademark brute strength. At one juncture, in what will surely go down as one of the most memorable Grand Final moments of all time, he chewed up all Three Chasers in making a save and was then able to break clear alone while his injured Chasers recovered and score.

For the third hour, Appleby continued to have the run of play, but Brookstanton was utterly impenetrable. Amazingly his efforts allowed the Wasps to surge back to a lead of eighty points. From there there was no stopping a team as ruthless as Wimbourne.

With all three Chasers recovered from various knocks at the hands of Flitley and Belcher, they began to fly rings around their Arrow counterparts. Delphine Branstone’s immense run of form continued as she led the way towards a potential breaking of the snitch margin.

Arrows Seeker Millie Sapworthy knew she had to act fast, but was marked unfailingly by Venus Vogler. There were question marks over Vogler’s ability to handle the pressure after she began to show signs of her early-season yips during the Finals. But she will only truly be remembered for her Grand Final performance either way. Here was a chance to stamp her name into the record books as a rookie success, and a potential superstar for the future.

Vogler did not waste her chance, shadowing Sapworthy all the way then swooping below her, with the Wasps leading by 130 after four hours and the match still alive, to take the snitch.

Justice had been served. The clear dominant team of modern times and the 2012 Minor Premiers, the Wimbourne Wasps, are 2012 British and Irish Quidditch League champions.

Wimbourne Wasps - 690: Branstone 25, Johnston 21, Pippins 7, Brookstanton 1, Vogler Capture

Appleby Arrows - 410: Cauldwell 19, Fladbury 12, Comstock 10

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: APOLLO BROOKSTANTON (WASPS)

2012 British and Irish Quidditch League Champions:

WIMBOURNE WASPS

Player of the Finals: DELPHINE BRANSTONE (WASPS)

Player Of The Year: MARINA GRINDERFORD (FALCONS)

Preliminary Final Results

Preliminary Final Results

Appleby Arrows	650*	vs	Holyhead Harpies	310
Wimbourne Wasps	440	vs	Caerphilly Catapults	300*

GRAND FINAL

Sunday July 22

7:30pm: Wimbourne Wasps vs Appleby Arrows @ Bodmin Moor

Wasps cut short Catapult fairytale

Wimbourne Wasps - 440 vs Caerphilly Catapults - 300*

	Wasps	Catapults
Keeper	Brookstanton (C)	Carrington
Chasers	Pippins	Gwenhwyfar
	Branstone	Lympsham
	Johnston	Lafarge
Beaters	Nutt	Lofthouse (C)
	Oddpick	Aderonis
Seeker	Vogler	Bryson

Quidditch is a funny old sport. All those months ago now, back on the heels of February’s winter chill, the standout League Cup favourite Wimbourne Wasps faced the promising but largely unknown Caerphilly Catapult rookies.

The Wasps were clearly a far better team. On that occasion they dominated the contest, but won by less than was to be expected when Brynmor Bryson provided a late, but early surprise by catching a consolation snitch.

Now it is Preliminary Final time, and still the Wasps are clear title favourites, and still the Catapults are the little team that could. The question on everyone’s lips was whether Bryson could once again upstage rookie Seeker Venus Vogler and complete this extended late-season surprise kick.

Everyone loves an underdog. The unlikely run of the Caerphilly Catapults, overcoming the Montrose Magpies and Falmouth Falcons to come within one win of a shock Grand Final, had warmed the hearts of every neutral fan. Everyone could sense that something special might just be afoot. A triumph over the League’s ultimate reference point would represent an unforgettable and iconic upset for the pantheon of British and Irish Quidditch League history.

2012 was perhaps the Catapults’ year if you believe in arithmantic omens. Caerphilly were BIQL champions in 2004 driven by the youthful exuberance of Asgeir Lofthouse, and in 2008 under Lofthouse’s tutelage. The mass retirements that followed have left the Catapults in their recent form slump, which few expected they would come out of so quickly. 2012 represented a chance for Lofthouse to take a third championship and cement his place in the annals.

Perhaps it was their captain’s inspiration which spurred for the Catapults, for they were immense off the start line.

Half an hour into the match it was Caerphilly who led 70-40. Wasps’ fans were stunned. Deep down, the true consensus amongst the general public not just their fans was that further miracles would be just too much to ask of the Catapults’ fairytale, and that Wimbourne would dominate the contest.

But there was no panic on field. The Wasps were operating in third gear, anticipating their opponents’ firy start and wisely playing themselves into the game. The inevitability of the result didn’t feel under question, just delayed, perhaps just to heighten the tension.

But by the commencent of hour two, natural order had been restored, then accelerated in earnest. Continuing her search for retribution after last year’s errors, Delphine Branstone once again dictated the troops, while Jadzia Johnston was the strike weapon, effortlessly slotting goal after goal past a gallant but outgunned Caddock Carrington.

The Beater contest was far less one-sided, with Asgeir Lofthouse taking it to Gaius Nutt and Erasmus Oddpick. But even mighty Lofthouse couldn’t stem the tide, as the Wasps pulled well clear of any dangerous margin and into the realms of safety.

But QUidditch is a funny game. Déjà vu strikes again. Brynmor Bryson, aware that his side’s campaign was over, pounced on the snitch, catching ahead of a curiously anonymous Venus Vogler.

The final capture was a fitting way to end a stunning season that had captured the hearts of man, and the attention of all rivals.

But the Wimbourne Wasps juggernaul rolled on, with just one final stepping stone in its way. It would all come down to a juicy rematch of the 2009 Grand Final between the Wasps and the Arrows.

Wimbourne Wasps - 440: Johnston 24, Branstone 10, Pippins 10

Caerphilly Catapults - 300: Lafarge 11, Lympsham 3, Gwenhwyfar 1, Bryson Capture

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: ERASMUS ODDPICK (WASPS)

Harpies powerless as Arrows decisively reach another Grand Final

Appleby Arrows - 650* vs Holyhead Harpies - 310

	Arrows	Harpies
Keeper	Delaney	Weatherwax
Chasers	Fladbury (C)	Glossop (C)
	Cauldwell	Gladstone
	Comstock	Birchgrove
Beaters	Flitley	Tolipan
	Belcher	Gibberd
Seeker	Sapworthy	Bloch

In 2011, there were two teams who beyond all others suffered at the hands of the season’s shocks and surprises. The 2009 champion Appleby Arrows and Preliminary Finalist Holyhead Harpies both fell earlier in the 2010 finals, but were expected to fight back with a vengeance in 2011. Yet despite, or perhaps because of all their experience, both teams fell from grace with a bang, propping up the bottom end of the ladder for the first half of the season.

By June both had recovered enough to be fighting for the Finals, but it was a final round match between the pair which would ultimately decide eighth on the ladder.

The Arrows won on that occasion, as they have more often than not against the Harpies in recent years. The fact that this year this match occurs at the Preliminary Final stage, with the winner earning the honour of a Grand Final berth, shows the depth and class of the two teams, and that amidst the surprise success of young teams like the Catapults and Kestrels, age and experience still counts for something.

In their earlier encounter this year, it was the Harpies who scored a rare win over one of their oldest rivals, triumping 1640 to 1410 in an absolute epic.

If this match could go close to living up to that Round 7 encounter, or even to matching the quality and tension of last week’s Semi Finals, it would be yet another special encounter.

But the early indications were not promising. A form guide was impossible to read before the match, as the Arrows have been traditionally stronger but lost this clash this year. The two team’s seasons have statistically been very even, but while Appleby have been a model of consistency, the Harpies have varied wildly between near unbeatable perfection and astonishing mediocrity.

But this mediocrity has occurred usually against lower quality teams, such as the Cannons and Wanderers who both took upset wins. As their twin recent wins over the Magpies testified, the Harpies can well be expected to rise to the occasion against top quality.

But unfortunately it was Mr Hyde who came to play today. The Harpies were outclassed in every facet of the game in the first two hours. The Arrows, led by the sheer brilliant violence of Ragmar Flitley and Gifford Belcher, shot clear of the snitch margin and looked well on their way to a fourth Grand Final in eight years.

But the Harpies can never be written off so easily. Their Beaters in particular stood up to the plate, with Talulah Tolipan doing a great job of neutralizing Flitley, while Rohesia Gibberd attacked the Arrows Chasers, bringing Captain Violetta Fladbury to ground.

Holyhead rallied in the third hour, sneaking the margin ever so slightly inside 150 a few times. But they could never gain a fundamental ascendency. The Arrows lead was never lower than 130 and as the fourth hour came and went, Fladbury tightened the screws.

The Arrows’ steadfast defence held them in perfect stead as the margin creeped dangerously out beyond 200, as the snitch came into play. For Zelda Bloch, there was nothing she could do but attempt to baulk Millie Sapworthy and hope her Harpies could come back into the contest.

But Bloch was fighting a losing battle. After Belcher floored her with a vicious close range Bludger, Sapworthy was free to take the snitch and seal a majestic victory for the 2012 Grand Finalists, the Appleby Arrows.

Appleby Arrows - 650: Cauldwell 23, Comstock 19, Fladburt 8, Sapworthy Capture

Holyhead Harpies - 310: Birchgrove 12, Gladstone 12, Glossop 7

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: RAGMAR FLITLEY (ARROWS)

Semi Final Results - Preliminary Final Fixtures

Semi Final Results

Caerphilly Catapults	710*	vs	Falmouth Falcons	530
Holyhead Harpies	940*	vs	Montrose Magpies	770

Preliminary Final Fixtures

Saturday July 14

7:30pm: Appleby Arrows vs Holyhead Harpies @ Ellis Moor

Sunday July 15

2:30pm: Wimbourne Wasps vs Caerphilly Catapults @ Bodmin Moor

Harpies seal Magpie collapse

Holyhead Harpies - 940* vs Montrose Magpies - 770

	Harpies	Magpies
Keeper	Weatherwax	Wintringham
Chasers	Glossop (C)	Keitch (C)
	Gladstone	MacLean
	Birchgrove	McTavish
Beaters	Tolipan	Moriattis
	Gibberd	Ollerton
Seeker	Bloch	Abberley

For all the subtexts and intrigue of this match, it was only really one story that mattered. Could the Montrose Magpies reverse their sudden and astonishing form slump and salvage this season of promised glory?

For Amedeus Pagley, clearly the weight of ten consecutive wins still outshone the danger of three straight losses, for he still chose to make no changes to his well established starting seven.

But Harpies manager Gloria Gwestenak needed no convincing to make one change, with captain Gwenevak Glossop returning to the side.

If this match wasn’t already setup to be an absolute blockbuster, the fact that the teams met in a thriller just a fortnight ago added to the buzz. In the final round it was the Harpies who triumped, the second of Montrose’s three consecutive losses, 880-830 thanks to Zelda Bloch’s timely snitch catch.

This result, Glossop’s return, and that funny beast momentum, suggested that the Harpies might almost me favourites this Saturday night. But the Magpies wasted no time in putting any notions well and truly to bed.

Captain Royden Keitch continued to show a sparkling return to form. The aging Keitch had been the Magpies’ only genuine weak link during their earlier success, but when the going gets tough the tough get going and the gruff old captain was well and truly turning up now his team really needed him for the first time.

The Beater contest was dominated initially by the Magpies, with the Harpies’ further hamstrung when Mulciber Moriattis bludged Rohesia Gibberd to ground.

So the first hour was all Montrose, but as the match settled into its nitty-gritty, so the Harpies adjusted and charged anew. The Magpies’ best remains sheer unstoppable brilliance, but the effect of the last month has been mental. As Holyhead fought, without really taking charge or threatening to retake the lead with any ease, the Magpies quite inexplicably faltered, mired by nerves.

Zachariah Ollerton faltered pn particular, losing all aim and reason, turning the Beater contest firmly around the other way as Talulah Tolipan and the recovered Gibberd began to run the show.

With the decisive Beater momentum on their side and freeing them up from the unwinnable physical contest, the Harpies Chasers finally had room to move. A little room was all that was needed to open the floodgates.

The Magpies’ similarly devastating goalscoring form thankfully did not desert them and so they were able to tick the scoreboard over and cling to the lead by the skin of their teeth, but with each passing hour the match was leaning further towards the Harpies as the Montrose defence collapsed.

But it took the best part of five hours for them to finally hit the lead, but barely anybody noticed when it finally happened, for Alison Abberley and Zelda Bloch were hurtling around the stadium in an astonishing display of Seeker agility and speed. It was a pleasure to watch as perhaps the world, certainly Britain’s two most promising young Seekers warred.

But it was the more experienced girl who prevailed. Bloch’s catch took the Harpies to within one win of a Grand Final. For the Magpies though it was pure devastation, each player and fan fully aware that season 2012 was the one that got away.

Holyhead Harpies – 940* - Birchgrove 33, Gladstone 26, Glossop 20, Bloch Capture

Montrose Magpies – 770 – MacLean 39, Keitch 30, McTavish 8

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: TALULAH TOLIPAN (HARPIES)

Catapult fairytale lives on another week

Caerphilly Catapults - 710* vs Falmouth Falcons - 530

	Catapults	Falcons
Keeper	Carrington	Frobisher
Chasers	Gwenhwyfar	Grinderford (C)
	Lympsham	Meadows
	Lafarge	Goodfellow
Beaters	Lofthouse (C)	Bundy
	Aderonis	Cronk
Seeker	Bryson	Mostafa

The first time the Caerphilly Catapults and Falmouth Falcons met, back in Round 9, the Falcons just got out of jail with a twenty point win despite a snitch catch from Brynmor Bryson.

After Bryson’s heroics against the Magpies last week, contrasted with the Falcons’ lack of top form against the Harpies, there was no reason to suggest Caerphilly’s surprise season couldn’t continue for yet another week.

There was also reason to suggest that a modicum of panic had penetrated the Falmouth camp. Beater Gordon Wagtail was dropped, leaving Basil Cronk to make his first start of the season at finals time, hardly optimum. Falcons manager Mungo Poyntz also looked nervy when addressing the wizarding press before the contest.

It was clear quickly that Poyntz was far from unfounded in his angst.  The nimble girl trio of the Catapults took immediate charge of the Chaser contest. Falcons captain Marina Grinderford was unstoppable when in the clear, but was marked almost exclusively by her opposing skipper Asgeir Lofthouse. It was Fairfax Meadows and Caliban Goodfellow who struggled to a surprising degree.

Crisiant Lafarge almost never went five minutes without potting another goal as the Catapults continued to ride the crest of their stunning season’s wave. By the end of the second hour Caerphilly were beginning to creep towards the snitch margin, but were never quite able to cross it.

As the more physically intimidating team, time was always going to favour the Falcons and so they slowly fought their way back into the contest. Grinderford was below her best, but Grinderford at 75% is still better than most and she was able to almost single-handedly score the goals necessary to make the Caerphilly camp exceedingly nervous.

As the third hour came and went, so did the Catapults decisive advantage. But with Lofthouse in command, the Catapults controlled the Bludgers and effectively dulled the Falcon offensive enough to stay ever so slightly clear.

There was controversy aplenty to, when Cyprian Bundy downed Catapult Keeper Caddock Carrington, seemingly illegally with Carrington out of play.

But the referee deemed his movement towards Bundy to have constituted a deliberate draw and so allowed the Bludge, freeing up the goals for Meadows to score unchallenged. By the time Carrington was recovered, three more goals had been added and the Catapult lead was down to just twenty points.

But it was always going to come down to the snitch. Neither Oakden Mostafa nor Brynmor Bryson had set the world alight so far this year. But Bryson’s international experience has held him in good stead and for the second week in a row, the Welsh National Seeker rose to the occasion, taking the snitch and winning the match for Caerphilly.

It was yet another year of heartbreak for the long suffering Falcons fans, but particularly hard to take for their captain Marina Grinderford who must wonder, after her stellar season, just what more she can do to get Falmouth near a Grand Final.

But the Catapults are now well and truly the fairy story of 2012. One more upset and they’ll win themselves one of the more unlikely Grand Final berths in recent years.

Caerphilly Catapults - 710: Lafarge 35, Lympsham 13, Gwenhwyfar 8, Bryson Capture
Falmouth Falcons – 530: Grinderford 31, Goodfellow 15, Meadows 7

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: CRISIANT LAFARGE (CATAPULTS)

Qualifying Final Results - Semi Final Fixtures

Qualifying Final Results

Falmouth Falcons (4)	430	vs	Holyhead Harpies (5)	500*
Appleby Arrows (3)	710*	vs	Tutshill Tornados (6)	340
Montrose Magpies (2)	200	vs	Caerphilly Catapults (7)	240*
Wimbourne Wasps (1)	880	vs	Kenmare Kestrels (8)	460*

Semi Final Fixtures

Friday July 6

7:30pm: Caerphilly Catapults (Lowest ranked winner) vs Falmouth Falcons (2nd highest ranked loser) @ Bodmin Moor

Saturday July 7

7:30pm: Holyhead Harpies (3rd highest ranked winner) vs Montrose Magpies (Highest ranked loser) @ Ellis Moor

Firing Wasp horde dispose of Kestrels

Wimbourne Wasps - 880 vs Kenmare Kestrels - 460*

	Wasps	Kestrels
Keeper	Brookstanton (C)	O’Hare (C)
Chasers	Pippins	McNally
	Branstone	Rosebottom
	Johnston	Watkins
Beaters	Nutt	Winston
	Oddpick	O’Brien
Seeker	Vogler	Denshaw

Part two time. Just like in the final round of regular competition, the Wimbourne Wasps found themselves up against the Kenmare Kestrels.

The 1 vs 8 match rarely provides a contest of particular interest and although the Kestrels have their table-topping rivals some mild scares in their recent fixture, few expected this tradition to change.

But last night’s Catapult upset reminded everyone just what a fickle game Quidditch can be and there was no room for complacency. The recent struggles of poor old Montrose have solidified the Wasps into almost unbackable favourites, so a shake-up from the revelatory young Kestrels would be more than welcome (to everyone except the nervy Falmouth Falcons.)

But it was clear within seconds, as Jadzia Johnston broke clear for a solo opener, that the Wasps were very much running in third gear in the previous match.

Kenmare did little wrong. Their Chasers in particular took the fight to the minor-premiers. But there was nothing that could be done to prevent a Wasp waterfall. Delphine Branstone in particular put in her best performance of the season, running rings around her opposite numbers.

But the real difference was in the Beater match-up. Gaius Nutt and Erasmus Oddpick were merciless and downright frightening, while Vinductus Winston and Griflet O’Brien struggled to communicate, tempering moments of power with infuriating lapses into confusion.

The Kestrels goal-scoring was spectacular, but they weren’t up to scratch defensively, allowing the Wasps to pull clear of the snitch margin in little more than two hours. But no end was in sight. Venus Vogler’s improvements over the second half of the season have rather buried the important fact that she remains a rookie. Even in such a theoretically straight-forward match, the occasion of the finals had clearly gotten to Vogler who looked slow both through the air and of the eye.

Luckily for Vogler, she was well and truly not required. The Wasps did not let up, drawing further clear despite losing Bruno Pippins to a rather unlucky spiralling long shot from Winston.

It took until late in the fifth hour for the foregone result to finally be formalized. But it was not a perfect day for the Wasps, as Vogler was beaten to the snitch by Florentia Denshaw, ending a promising Kestrels season on a consolatory note.

Wimbourne Wasps - 880: Branstone 38, Johnston 33, Pippins 17

Kenmare Kestrels - 460: McNally 17, Watkins 10, Rosebottom 4, Denshaw Capture

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: GAIUS NUTT (WASPS)