Chudley Cannons

Chudley Cannons
Quidditch team information
Hometown	Chudley, England, Great Britain
League(s)	British and Irish Quidditch League
Robes	Bright orange with their logo: two black Cs and a speeding cannonball
Most glorious hour	Having won the League Cup twenty-one times
Championships won	League Cup (1892) (21 Total Times)
Known players	Manager: Ragmar Dorkins Seeker: Galvin Gudgeon Beater: Joey Jenkins Chaser: Dragomir Gorgovitch Keeper: Gordon Horton

"...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

The Chudley Cannons are 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 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 team's motto

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".

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

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.

In August 1992, the Cannons were ninth in the League.

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.

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.

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.

Squads

Chudley Cannons
1998-1999
Chasers
Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
Beaters
	Unknown		Unknown
	Keeper		Seeker
	Unknown		Galvin Gudgeon
Substitutes
Ragmar Dorkins (Manager)

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

Behind the scenes

A Chudley Cannons badge

Player Chudley Cannons as he appears in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

• 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.

Chudley Cannons' logo

• 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 8 February 1999 edition of the Daily Prophet, 'Chudley Cannon memorabilia - fan making "clean break"', is an advertisement in the 'For Sale' section.
• 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 Chicago Cubs' 71-year drought between 1945 and 2016 was attributed to the Curse of the Billy Goat;
    • The Red Sox' drought was attributed to the "Curse of the Bambino", supposedly placed on them by their star player, Babe Ruth, after being traded to their greatest rivals, the New York Yankees.
• The Chudley Cannons crest featured in the film series includes the inscription "Est. 1753". 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.
• 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.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Seen briefly on a banner)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) (Seen on Ron's quilt)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Appears on poster in extra feature on Disc 2)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
• Quidditch Through the Ages
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World (Appears on poster(s))
• Daily Prophet Newsletters
• LEGO Harry Potter (Appears on posters(s))
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game (Mentioned only)
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Appears on posters in Diagon Alley)
• Harry Potter: The Creature Vault (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

In popular media

• 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