Quidditch World Cup - Irish vs English

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 97556

Eloise (I think) wrote:
<snip> The QWC dates from 1473, long before the creation of the
Republic of  Ireland, so it would be far from surprising if the Irish
team were similarly  drawn from both sides of the border.
<snip>
I go along with Steve's theory that Quidditch teams are not 
necessarily governed by modern political boundaries. 

Carol:
First, my apologies if I've misattributed the post (or parts of it).
It was hard to tell where Geoff's thoughts ended and Eloise's began.

I think the date 1473 is important here. It predates Protestantism and
consequently any religio-political division among the Irish, who had
intermarried with the Normans who attempted to establish feudal
control there in the twelfth century and were probably more or less
united against the sporadic attempts by the Plantagenets and their
descendants to control, if not exactly conquer, Ireland. It was not
until 1541 that Henry VIII declared himself King (not Lord, like his
predecessors) of Ireland and head of the Church of Ireland (a branch
of the Church of England), paving the way for conflict between English
and Irish, Protestants and Catholics, for centuries to come. (I'm no
fan of the Tudors, in case you can't tell.)

By that time, the WW was already effectively alienated from the Muggle
world, whose political/religious divisions would not have been
reflected either in the organization of the Quidditch teams or the
British MoM, which as far as we can tell governs the British Isle
(Great Britain and all of Ireland) as a unit. (Whether there's an
International MoM, I don't know.)

The point of my post, in case anyone is wondering, is that despite
Fudge's occasional interactions with the Muggle Prime Minister
(necessary to keep the WW hidden from the Muggles), postmedieval
Muggle politics, including the present political geography of Ireland
and the United Kingdom, are IMO of no concern whatever to the WW. 

As a tangentially related afterthought, the Irish National team we see
in GoF may be a sort of all-star team composed of the best players
from such local teams as the Ballycastle Bats or Kenmore Kestrels from
both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, except that unlike
American all-star baseball teams, it apparently operates as a
permanent unit (as evidenced by the seamless interaction of the
chasers, whose teamwork suggests extensive experience working
together). Maybe the very best players can go there directly without
"working their way up through the minors," to borrow an American
expression. Krum, for example, made the Bulgarian national team while
he was still in school and Charlie Weasley, according to McGonagall,
"could have played for England," but I'm assuming their ability is
exceptional.

Carol, with apologies for oversimplifying the complicated relations
between England and Ireland over the centuries, but 1473 suggested the
Yorkists and Lancastrians and this post developed from there. . . .