State Shield 2019 - Social

The State Shield 2019 Social will be held at The Emerald Peacock at 233 Lonsdale St, Melbourne from 7:30pm to late.

Tickets will be $15 per person and can be collected at sign in on Saturday 5 October or by finding a member of the tournament committee at State Shield.

Buy Tickets Here

More information is available below or on the Facebook Event Page, where all updates can be found.

Please note that if you are a PLAYER you can purchase a social ticket through the tournament signup form distributed by your team management.

Light canapes will be provided, however Quidditch Australia cannot guarantee availability of food and meeting of dietary requirements pending attendee arrival time. It is strongly reccomended to eat beforehand.

Ticket sales will close and no refunds will be given for social tickets after midnight on Sunday 22 September 2019.

This is an 18+ event and the venue retains the right to check identification and prevent entry by the venue rules.

For any questions please contact Tournament Director Manon te Riele at stateshield@quidditch.org.au.

State Shield 2019 - Volunteering

We are seeking general volunteers to help make State Shield run as smoothly as possible! This includes officials such as referees and snitches, as well as ticket and merchandise stall helpers, pitch managers, runners, photographers, and more!

If you'd like to help out, please apply below.

Volunteer At State Shield

We are especially seeking referees and snitches, so please get in touch with us by September 22nd!

State Shield 2019 - Committee

The Organising Committee for State Shield 2019 is as follows:

Manon te Riele - Tournament Director

Alistair Yap - Assistant Tournament Director

Regina Atkinson - General Committee Member

Please contact the tournament committee with any questions or concerns at stateshield@quidditch.org.au

State Shield 2019 - Livestream

State Shield 2019 will be livestreamed via the Quidditch Australia Facebook Page thanks to My Sport Live! Find the feed below, and get notified when it starts!

Meet The Commentators

We talked to Emma Humphrey, and Kathryn Cooper, both of whom have extensive experience at State Shield and even internationally commentating on quidditch, as well as Taylor Angelo, who is new to the role at State Shield!

First up, Emma, whois currently abroad in the UK, but has commentated State Shield in the past, aswell as a number of European Tournaments. Here's what Emma had to say:

"Commentating is one of the best ways to get to know the community better, notice upcoming talents and have eyes on everything which is going on during state shield. In Europe it is one of the most sought after roles at major tournaments, because it is a job that you can make truly you own. 

You get to meet and talk to some truly amazing people in the sport, as well as get to voice your own thoughts and creativity. On the livestream, you have eyes on everything which is going on and off the camera, and this can be vitally important as a commentator to relay the information which viewers may not be seeing on their screens (e.g beater/snitch play). 

You do not need experience to be a commentator, in fact if you are new to the sport, I highly encourage joining because it’s a great way to get involved without too much responsibility, you learn a lot in the process and there are so many wonderful people who can support you along the way. 

At State Shield I am looking forward to seeing some of Australia’s best go head to head, to see how some Dropbears have developed as players since the last World Cup, and to see upcoming talent in the field. I think it's also a great chance to really see what you are made of, for the players to push themselves, and give other players an opportunity to see what the sport has to offer."

We also spoke to Taylor, who won't just be commentating at State Shield, but will also be taking photos for her Taylor Angelo Quidditch Shots page! Despite not having commentated at State Shield before, Taylor has had a lot of experience commentating in the NSW Quidditch League.

"I guess what I like about commentating is the fact I get to talk about quidditch and potentially provide extra information in addition to the plays. I’m looking forward to seeing some really top quality quidditch- there’s a reason why my State Shield photos are my favourites - it’s my fave tournament to photograph because there’s so many cool plays, so much potential for cool aesthetics. People should volunteer cause it’ll be super fun and it’s always good to give back to the quidditch community that has given us so much. It’s also much more productive than pure spectatorship."

Finally for ourinterviews but certainly not the last of our commentators at State Shield, wehave Kathryn Cooper, who has commentated numerous quidditch livestreams fromtournament finals, NSW Quidditch League, and previous State Shields.

"I like commentating because I enjoy watching the game with an analytical mind and talking about the strategies that teams are using. I also enjoy talking about the players and their experience with the game with other players as well. I am looking forward to seeing the Bluetongues and Leadbeaters face up against each other again, as the finals series last year. I am also keen to see how the Bluebottles go up against Queensland and the Honeyeaters as well.  I think people should volunteer because there is always so much to do at quidditch tournaments, in so many different areas. So many people have different ideas and thoughts about what can be done to improve things within the quidditch community, and it's always amazing to see those ideas come into fruition."

If you'd like to getinvolved with the commentary and livestream content for State Shield, pleaseget in touch asap via facebook or at stateshield@quidditch.org.au, and getexcited!

State Shield Eligibility, Rules, & Regulations

ELIGIBILITY

All players must be full members of Quidditch Australia (QA) to be able to participate in the tournament.

State team eligibility is determined by the following clauses. You are eligible for a team if you meet any of the following:

1. You currently play for a club from that state and commenced playing in that state from no later than the beginning of the current season;

2. You currently live in that state;

3. The team that you first played quidditch for is from that state;

4. You spent the majority of school (K-12, at least 7 years cumulative) in that state.

If you have different states for each of the above criteria, you may choose which team you wish to apply for.

If you have moved states after the commencement of a season and do not meet any of the above criteria for that state, you may not apply for that state. You may however apply for the state you previously moved from, given you meet the above criteria.

A season is defined as the commencement of a club based state league.

Once you are chosen to represent a state as either a player or reserve, you forfeit your eligibility based on clauses B, C, and D. For example, consider a player who grew up in Melbourne spending all of their schooling there, then went to NSW for university and began playing quidditch there. If they choose to represent NSW this year, they may only play for NSW in future years until they play for a club team in a different state under clause A.

Withdrawing your application or failure to make the state team you applied for does not forfeit your eligibility to apply for other teams. You may apply for multiple states, however you must withdraw all but one application upon selection. For example, you cannot be a reserve for one state and a player for another.

All criteria from above regarding previous participating for a state applies from 2018’s State Shield onwards.

ROSTERS

Rosters must be submitted in the following format:

21 Players

9 Reserves

Staff (see below)

Rosters must list a player’s full name, jersey number, and gender.

Each team is permitted a maximum of 12 players on the final roster submission who identify as the same gender.

The deadline for preliminary rosters, maximum 30 individuals, shall be due on 1 September 2019. No new players may be added after this point.

Preliminary rosters aim to allow QA to begin marketing the event to the wider quidditch community and general public.

A final roster of 21 players must be submitted by 5pm Thursday prior to the commencement of the QA State Shield. Final rosters allow for movements between reserves and players submitted in the preliminary roster.

For states with more than one team, reserves are allowed to be listed from the players on the state’s secondary team for their primary team. In the case that a player moves up from the secondary team to the primary team, a player from the primary team may not move down to the secondary team. The reserves for the secondary team may not be players listed on the primary team’s roster. This system operates in the same manner for states with a third team, and so on.

TEAM STAFF

Each team is welcome to have up to 4 non-playing individuals on their subline during gameplay in the following roles:

• Coach

• Assistant Coach

• Team Manager

• Sports Trainer

These staff positions should be listed on the preliminary roster and can be adjusted up until the final roster submission.

The conduct of team staff is governed the the IQA Rulebook 2018-2020 section 1.1. LEADERSHIP AND TEAM STAFF.

RULES & REGULATIONS

The 2019 QA State Shield shall be governed by the QA Gameplay Policies. Participation in the event by players, staff, officials, tournament organisers, and spectators is governed by the QA Code of Conduct, Membership Protector Policy, and Constitution. Actions which violate the regulations laid out in these documents may result in suspension or disqualification from the event at the decision of the tournament committee and QA Board of Directors.

Instances of disputed games are governed by the Disputed Games Policy.

The 2019 State Shield shall use the 2018 - 2020 IQA Rulebook with QA amendments.

MEDIA

Plans surrounding the public release of rosters and staff are to be communicated with the QA Media Director (media@quidditch.org.au) for branding purposes.

State Shield 2019 Bid Package Released!

We are excited to release the Event Overview and Bidding Process for Quidditch Australia's State Shield 2019. Likely to be held across the 5th and 6th of October, State Shield is a highly competitive showcase of the best players from each state across two days of competition.

Teams or organisations interested in cohosting the event with Quidditch Australia are encouraged to submit applications to events@quidditch.org.au, by April 5th.

Please find the bidding information here:

[embeddoc url="http://www.quidditch.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/State-Shield-Bid1.pdf" download="all"]

Original Photo Credit for Header Image: Maddi Moulton Photography