Quidditch World Cup - Irish vs English

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 97671

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Meredith" <msmerymac at y...> 
wrote:
> Carol:
>  > That's not counting numerous local teams, for example the 
Wimborne 
> > Wasps, for whom Ludo Bagman was a beater, IIRC the position 
> correctly.
> > (I definitely remember the black and yellow Quidditch robes and 
the
> > bludgers to the head!)
> 
> 
> Luckie:
> 
> Speaking of local Quidditch teams, does anyone find it interesting 
> that major British cities don't have teams? Chudley Cannons, 
> Puddlemere United, Wimbourne Wasps? No London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
or 
> Manchester teams. In the United States, and, I assume, in Britain, 
> professional teams are located in major metropolitan areas/markets, 
> since people in the metro areas are needed to buy tickets and 
support 
> the teams! I suppose this could be explained in that it's hard to 
> hide a Quidditch Pitch in London, and Wizards from all over can 
> simply apparate (or sue a port key) to the game. But since 
Quidditch 
> was formed several hundred years ago, I either think that there 
must 
> tend to be large concentrations of wizarding populations in the 
areas 
> that have teams, or, as we can assume from the lack of a Northern 
> Ireland team, the Wizarding World pays little attention to muggle 
> politics/geography. Although the MoM IS located in London, but that 
> could be for practical purposes (so it's close to the Muggle 
> government).
> 
> 
> ~Luckie, who used to live in the smallest market in the National 
> Football Leauge (US), which was STILL about a million people.

It's not that difficult to explain. Most of the largest cities in the 
UK apart from London -- Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, 
Bradford, Sheffield etc. -- are or were centres of heavy industry and 
got off the ground only with the industrial revolution in the 19th 
century, by which time the teams in the Quidditch League had already 
been established. When the teams were formed most Britons were living 
in the countryside. Appleby Arrows is the one founded last, and that 
was in 1612. It's one of the things that's so fascinating about 
history, how survival of the fittest applies to towns as well. 
According to a source on the web, the ten oldest cities in the UK are

1)  Ripon, 866
2)  London, 1066
3)  Edinburgh, 1124
4)  Chichester, 1135
5)  Derby, 1154
6)  Lincoln, 1154
7)  Oxford, 1154
8)  Nottingham, 1155
9)  Winchester, 1155
10) Exeter, 1156 

And only London and Edinburgh make it to the list of the ten largest.

I also tend to think that wizards and witches steered clear of Muggle 
population centres to avoid persecution.

Alshain