Chudley Cannons

"...because death is coming for me as surely as the Chudley Cannons will finish bottom of this year's league."

- Albus Dumbledore, commenting on the certainty of his imminent death

The Chudley Cannons are a British Quidditch team that plays in the British and Irish Quidditch League. They wear bright orange robes, and their logo includes two black Cs and a speeding cannonball. They have won the League Cup twenty-one times, the last time in 1892; many consider their glory days to be over. There is a Chudley Cannons Fan Club.

Motto
The club motto was "We shall conquer" until 1972, when it was changed to "Let's all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best".

1892
The Chudley Cannons' won the League for the last time.

1972
The team changed their official motto.

1992
In August the Cannons were ninth in the League.

1998
The Appleby Arrows defeated the Chudley Cannons in the summer, aided by a pathetic perfomance by Cannon's Seeker Galvin Gudgeon

The Cannons were at the bottom of the table on July 31st.

1999
The Chudley Cannons broke a sixteen-game losing streak by drawing with the Caerphilly Catapults.

On February 8th they lay bottom of the League with 230 points.

The Cannons defeated Wigtown Wanderers in Bodmin Moor.

On June 1st the Falmouth Falcons were the team at the bottom of the League. The Cannons then defeated the Falcons in Exmoor, keeping the Falcons in bottom place. The shock of the victory caused the Cannons' manager Ragmar Dorkins to collapse.

On October 1st the Chudley Cannons were in eleventh place in the League.

Behind the scenes

 * They are Ron Weasley's favourite team. The bedspread, walls, and ceiling of his room at the Burrow were all decorated in a "violent shade of orange", and posters of the team's players covered nearly every inch of the walls.
 * J. K. Rowling, when asked if the Chudley Cannons would ever win a game, replied that "they'd need to replace the entire team and down several cauldrons of Felix Felicis."
 * In the February 8th 1999 edition of the Daily Prophet, 'Chudley Cannon memorabilia - fan making "clean break"', is an advertisement in the 'For Sale' section.
 * The team seems to be an allusion to the American Major League Baseball team, the Chicago Cubs, who also have a devoted fanbase and have not won the World Series for over one hundred years, the longest losing streak in the history of Muggle professional sports.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Quidditch Through the Ages
 * Daily Prophet Newsletters

Notes and references
Canons de Chudley