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"...death is coming for me as surely as the Chudley Cannons will finish bottom of this year's league."
Albus Dumbledore on the certainty of his imminent death[src]

The Chudley Cannons were an English Quidditch team from Chudley that played in the British and Irish Quidditch League and, in 1972, participated in the International Quidditch Tournament. They wore bright orange robes, and their logo included two black Cs and a speeding cannonball. They won the League Cup twenty-one times, the last time in 1892; many considered their glory days to be over. There was a Chudley Cannons Fan Club.

Motto[]

Chudley-cannons-badge

Chudley Cannons logo

The club motto was "We shall conquer" until 1972, the same year that they played in the International Quidditch Tournament, when it was changed to "Let's all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best". This change in motto suggested a long-lasting losing streak and a lack of confidence in the team.

History[]

1892[]

The Chudley Cannons won the League for the last time.

20th century[]

"Chudley Cannons manager Ragmar Dorkins collapsed with shock on Saturday after his team succeeded in beating the Falmouth Falcons..."
— Sports page of the Daily Prophet[src]
Chudley Cannons Banner

A Chudley Cannons banner

In 1931, the Cannons won the Josef Wronski Award for Excellent Pitch Skills.

In 1972, the team played in the International Quidditch Tournament and changed their official motto.

In around 1987, the Chudley Cannons lost a game.[4]

In August 1992, the Cannons were ninth in the League.[5]

In 1998, the Appleby Arrows defeated the Chudley Cannons in the summer, aided by a pathetic performance by Cannon's Seeker Galvin Gudgeon. The Cannons were at the bottom of the table on 31 July.[1]

Chudley Cannons shirt - QTA-IE

The team's motto

In 1999, the Chudley Cannons broke a sixteen-game losing streak by drawing with the Caerphilly Catapults. On 8 February they languished bottom of the League with 230 points. The Cannons narrowly defeated Wigtown Wanderers in Bodmin Moor. On 1 June 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 1 October, the Chudley Cannons were in eleventh place in the League.[1]

In the 8 February 1999 edition of the Daily Prophet, 'Chudley Cannon memorabilia - fan making "clean break"', is an advertisement in the 'For Sale' section.[1]

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, and he owned a team badge. In 1997, Harry Potter used magic on his poster, making it temporarily turn blue.

21st century[]

An unidentified female Chudley Cannons player appeared as one of the Foundables during the Calamity, which affected the wizarding world in the 2010s. She was trapped by a shackle Confoundable and had to be freed by a volunteer member of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force with the use of the Unlocking Charm.[6]

QuidditchPlayerChudleyCannonsWU

An offical Chudley Cannons uniform

Uniform[]

For protection, Chudley Cannons players had to wear a Quidditch helmet, Goggles, shin, knee and arm guards, and gloves. The different Quidditch positions required different equipment. For example, the Beaters carried bats and Keepers wore protective head and chest gear.

In an official match, players wore the orange uniform of their team. An uniform consisted of robes, a cap, or a jersey. The Chudley Cannons' logo/insignia was a CC located on the right side of their uniform. This logo had a special meaning to the team and their fans.[7]

Squads[]

ChudleyCannons Chudley Cannons
1998-1999
Chasers
Unknown Unknown Unknown
Beaters
  Unknown Unknown  
Keeper Seeker
Unknown Galvin Gudgeon

Substitutes

Ragmar Dorkins (Manager)

ChudleyCannons Chudley Cannons
Unknown
Chasers
Unknown Unknown Unknown
Beaters
  Unknown Unknown  
Keeper Seeker
Gordon Horton Unknown

Substitutes
Unknown

Behind the scenes[]

  • 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."
  • They have a certain resemblance to three American Major League Baseball teams, which likewise have notoriously strong fanbases in spite of a near-legendary reputation for not having won the championship for nearly, or more than, a century:
    • The Chicago White Sox, who won their first two World Series titles in 1906 and 1917, and returned to the World Series again in 1919. During the 1919 series, however, a match fixing incident known as the Black Sox Scandal occurred, in which eight members of the team were accused of intentionally losing the series in exchange for money. Despite returning to the World Series again in 1959, the White Sox would not go on to win until the 2005 World Series, in which they defeated the Houston Astros after a World Series championship drought of 88 years, the longest championship "drought" break in the history of baseball until the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series;
    • The Chicago Cubs, who became the first Major League team to play in three consecutive World Series championships (in 1906, 1907 and 1908), as well as the first team to win two consecutive championships (in 1907 and 1908), but subsequently set two records for droughts in sports, failing to win a National League pennant between 1945 and 2016 (a 71-year drought) or a World Series championship between 1908 and 2016 (a 108-year drought);
    • The Boston Red Sox, who won the first-ever World Series title (in 1903), and won four more titles, the last being in 1918 before an 86-year drought that ended with their victory in 2004.
    • The droughts suffered by the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox both gave rise to superstitions that the teams had been cursed:
  • The Chudley Cannons crest featured in the film series includes the inscription "Est. 1753".[8] This, however, cannot be taken as canon since it goes against information in Quidditch Through the Ages, in which it is specified that the Chudley Cannons were one of the thirteen Quidditch teams selected to join the British and Irish Quidditch League when it was first established in 1674.[9]
  • The team's logo, featuring two crossed artillery pieces, bears some resemblance to that of the real-life British football club Arsenal.
  • The team's logo includes three interlaced crescent moons. This is considered a Celtic or Pagan symbol, sometimes representing the Three Fates.
    • It is also the emblem of Diane de Poitiers, a French noblewoman who had several connections to the moon including her name, manner of dress, and the crest itself.
  • In a tweet on August 8th, 2018, Jonathan Carlin, half of the popular fandom theorising YouTube duo, Super Carlin Brothers uploaded a video of lyrics appearing onscreen, accompanied by the chanting of a comedic, unofficial Chudley Cannons theme song, in reference to the video uploaded the previous day to the Super Carlin Brothers YouTube channel.
"Chudley Cannons, Chudley Cannons. Boom! Boom! Boom! We are not pirates. We have peglegs and eyepatches, we fly the seven skies. We have a boat, it does not float. Boom! Boom! Boom! We are not pirates."
Super Carlin Brothers

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

British and Irish Quidditch League
Times de Quadribol da Grã-Bretanha e Irlanda2
Quidditch teams
England Appleby Arrows · Chudley Cannons · Falmouth Falcons · Puddlemere United · Tutshill Tornados · Wimbourne Wasps
Ireland and Northern Ireland Kenmare Kestrels · Ballycastle Bats
Scotland Banchory Bangers · Montrose Magpies · Pride of Portree · Wigtown Wanderers
Wales Caerphilly Catapults · Holyhead Harpies
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