Australia national quadball team

The Australian national quadball team, known as the Dropbears, is the representative national team in the sport of quadball for Australia. The team made history in 2016 when it won the 2016 IQA World Cup, becoming the first non-United States Quidditch World Champions.

Australia made its international debut in 2012 at the IQA Summer Games in Oxford, UK, and is one of only 4 countries to have competed in all 5 IQA World Cups. To date, the Dropbears are the only team to ever beat the United States at an international level.

The team is regulated by Quadball Australia and is a national member of the International Quadball Association.

History
The national team, known at the time as the 'Australian Olympic Quidditch Team', made its debut in 2012 at the International Quidditch Association Summer Games in Oxford, UK. Scheduled to coincide with the 2012 Summer Olympics, the tournament later became the first iteration of the IQA Quidditch World Cup. Australia placed third of the five teams competing.

The first official National Squad was formed in the lead up to what would eventually become the second IQA World Cup, with the Dropbears making their official international debut at the 2014 Global Games in Burnaby, Canada, finishing second after losing to the United States in the final.

The third international quidditch world cup was held in 2016 in Frankfurt, Germany where a repeat of 2014 saw Australia and the United States once again face off in the final. After a long and tightly contested match, the Dropbears claimed Gold with a snitch catch, defeating the United States 150*-130. This historic win took the international quidditch community by storm, being a significant upset against Team USA who were previously undefeated in the entire history of the sport. This match remains the first and only time that the US team has been beaten at an international level.

The 2016 World Champion Dropbears squad was coached by Gen Gibson, and captained by James Mortenson.

The Dropbears finished 5th at the 2018 World Cup, after being defeated by the United States (the eventual winners) in the quarterfinals. The fifth IQA World Cup was scheduled to take place in 2020 in Richmond, United States, but was delayed to 2021 and then again to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australia was subsequently invited to attend the 2022 European Games, an international tournament hosted in the off-years between the World Cup, where they came third. This was seen as controversial by some due to the fact that the European Games are designed for teams based in Europe and since Australia has a strong international record they therefore went into the tournament as a favourite despite never competing in it before. However, the IQA defended allowing both Australia and Hong Kong to compete due to the lack of an equivalent continental games tournament in their region.

The fifth world cup took place in July 2023 in Richmond, Virgina, where Australia finished 7th after being defeated by Belgium (the eventual Bronze medalists) in the quarterfinals.

IQA World Cup
† ''The 2020 World Cup was initially postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19, and further postponed to 2023. ''

Nations Cup
Australia will compete under the team name "Aurora Australis" at the upcoming Nations Cup, an international level elite-development tournament which limits the number of players a team can name who competed at for any country at the most recent IQA World Cup.

Australian National Squad
As of June, 2024, the current standing national squad consists of 44 members.

The 2025 World Cup team will be selected from among the National Squad.

Quadball Nations Cup 2024 (Salou, Spain)
The squad for the 2024 Nations Cup will be coached by Tom Russell.

IQA World Cup 2023 (Richmond, United States)
The squad for the 2023 World Cup was captained by Samantha Chittenden and coached by Luke Derrick.

IQA European Games 2022 (Limerick, Ireland)
The squad for the 2022 European Games was captained by Samantha Chittenden and coached by Nicola Gertler, Tim Scott, and Kim Govier.

IQA World Cup 2018 (Florence, Italy)
The squad for the 2018 World Cup was captained by Callum Mayling and coached by Gen Gibson and Daniel Fox.

IQA World Cup 2016 (Frankfurt, Germany)
The squad for the 2016 World Cup was captained by James Mortensen and coached by Gen Gibson.

IQA Global Games 2014 (Burnaby, Canada)
The squad for the 2014 World Cup was captained by James Hyder.

IQA Summer Games 2012 (London, England)
The squad for the 2012 IQA Summer Games was captained by Katherine Hunter. Note: This list is incomplete.

Most Caps
* includes one or more appearances as a reserve

^includes one or more appearances as part of Aurora Australis