By Nicole Hammer
The IQA Board of Trustees revealed to Quidditch Post today that due to concerns related to COVID-19 and after consulting the CDC, the American Quidditch Discussion Facebook group, Quidditch Premier League, Alex Benepe, and all of the sad posts on Facebook, the safest option is to hold the World Cup in Antarctica.
The IQA will be working alongside Antarctica’s population of 1,106 residents to ensure adequate housing and facilities. The IQA is currently working with the local tourism company to construct equipment out of ice. In preparation, the residents have already started building an athlete village igloo. It was told that due to the inhabitable climate, the hard boundary will be marked by residents holding hands in a rectangle and they do not anticipate the hoops blowing over. Luckily, the rule change has allowed the residents to be comfortable in marking the hard boundaries, as they were previously unfamiliar with the sport. The IQA also has hired a team of bears to serve as security for the event.
The tourism group in the South Pole plans to train an all penguin tournament staff to run the World Cup. Due to the popularity of the 2018 World Cup, the IQA has decided to bring back their previous orange cones and create a road in between pitches. Additionally, the IQA will continue to adhere to social distancing rules by requiring that all players must be at least 6 feet apart and no more than 10 players can be on the field. However, penguins are allowed to supplement the rosters as long as they meet the country’s requirements for eligibility.
The IQA encourages players to just figure it out amongst themselves and if they have any questions, they can complain about it on American Quidditch Discussion. However, questions or nominations for the penguin tournament staff as well as applications for volunteering (including ice-sistant refs) can be directed to wc@iqasport.org.