OP-ED: The State of the IQA
Authors: Anonymous
This weekend, the 2022 European Games will take center stage on the international quadball stage. But while the 20-team tournament is sure to be full of intrigue, it is also a reminder of the Euro-centric nature of the IQA.
Since breaking off from US Quidditch in 2015, a move that was much needed, the IQA has as of this weekend hosted eight tournaments featuring national team rosters. Six of these tournaments (European Games 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 and World Cup 2016 and 2018) have been hosted in Europe, while one has been hosted in North America (Pan-American Games 2019) and one has been hosted in South America (Pan-American Games 2022).
This was set to change in 2020 with the announcement that the World Cup would be played in Richmond, Va., a decision that was met with clear opposition from large factions of the European quidditch community. Of course, through no one’s fault, the 2020 World Cup was delayed due to COVID, and then delayed again as the pandemic surged its way through 2021. During these delays, amongst perceived safety concerns, the IQA also formed a BIPOC committee to investigate the city.
With the BIPOC committee approval, and COVID concerns waning, everything was lining up perfectly for a 2022 World Cup in Richmond, right on schedule on an even-numbered year. But then, the IQA announced they would be delaying the World Cup until 2023, and instead hosting Continental Games in 2022. Europe would get yet another IQA-hosted event, while North America would lose its IQA-hosted event for the year.
“The choice to host the event in 2023 was made primarily due to the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the safety and athletic preparation of national teams, as well as travel restrictions for our members,” the IQA said in its statement. “With this decision, we also want to give our national governing bodies sufficient time to return to play safely and plan to attend the event.
With that statement, you would expect the IQA to have to pare its events down in 2022. But the European Games this weekend are anything but that. Instead, the Games are a 20-team, three-continent event that for almost all intents and purposes could be called the 2022 World Cup. It has one less team competing than the 2016 IQA World Cup, and only nine less than the 2018 World Cup. And once again, that veritable World Cup is in Europe.
I say veritably because five total NGBs were not welcome at the 2022 European Games: Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Peru and the United States, all of whom were required to play at the 2022 Pan-American Games in Peru or not at all.
For the United States and Canada, this option would have required flights both hundreds of dollars more expensive and hours longer than traveling to Ireland all for the chance to play three teams instead of 20. Unsurprisingly, both chose not to compete. While the IQA stated that their 2022 delays were to allow NGBs to more easily attend events, that gesture apparently did not extend to the US and Canada.
The consistent issue throughout the years with the IQA is that, for most issues, every NGB gets an equal say. It creates a problem similar to that of the US Senate, where equal representation of arbitrary areas of land often gives all of the power to the smallest bodies, which in the case of the IQA almost all exist on one continent: Europe. Due to this, every last decision the organization makes, whether it’s rule changes or World Cup locations, has to be acceptable to a majority of tiny European NGBs, often making progress difficult.
With the IQA’s 2022 events just about in the books, it is time to look forward to 2023, and a Richmond World Cup. But, almost on queue, connected European movers and shakers are publicly suggesting that “the voices suggesting to host an alternative WC next year are piping up again.” It seems that USQ still has a number of roadblocks ahead before an American World Cup officially gets the blessing of the European majority.
When it comes to World Cup locations, there needs to be more mobility. Not only because it’s the most fair thing to do, and the way other worldwide events like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup handle things, but also because a local or semi-local World Cup can do massive things for growth and development of the sport in that area. The fact that the IQA has never hosted an inter-continental tournament outside of Europe, aside from Mexico going to Pan-Ams this year, is stunting that growth
When the IQA split off from US Quidditch in 2015, it did so because the prior organization known as the IQA was too America-centric in a way that was negatively affecting the sport in the rest of the world. Now, it seems it might be time to ask if the current IQA is too Euro-centric, and what exactly that means for the future of the organization, and the sport.
