Quidditch

Harry Potter playing the sport

"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It’s like - like football in the Muggle world – everyone follows Quidditch – played up in the air on broomsticks and there’s four balls..."

— Rubeus Hagrid explains Quidditch.

Quidditch is a very popular wizarding sport played on broomsticks. The object of a game is to score higher points than the opposing team. It is achieved by scoring goals to gain ten points or catching the Golden Snitch to gain one-hundred and fifty points. A game ends when the Snitch is caught or the two Captains have an agreement.

The length of the game depends on the players. It could be won in seconds or even take up to three months. Passion for the sport is like that of football for Muggles. They have leagues and international tournaments including the Quidditch World Cup which takes place every four years.

About

Gameplay

The four balls of the game

Each side has seven players: a Keeper, a Seeker, three Chasers and two Beaters. Chasers catch and throw a Quaffle to each other trying to score a goal through one of three hoops. Each goal awards ten points. Keepers try to save the ball. They stay in the scoring area. Beaters lobby Bludgers towards players using a club to knock them off their broom. They try to stop the other side from scoring or saving a goal. The referee supervises the game.

The role of the Seeker in a game is considered higher in importance to a Keeper, Chaser or Beater. They weave around the pitch to find, pursue and catch a Golden Snitch, a tiny ball which has wings. The Seeker has to find and catch the Snitch quickly in order to end the game and win it for their team. However, if the other side is more than 150 points ahead, they need to be more tactical about when they catch the Snitch if it won't put their side in the lead.

Matches

"Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world –"

— Ron Weasley on the popularity of Quidditch.

The game begins with the fourteen players gathering around a center circle, where the referee releases the four balls. Bludgers and the Golden Snitch are bewitched to fly on their own. However, the Quaffle needs to be thrown into the air which is when the signal for the players to begin is given.

Chasers will catch the Quaffle. They start heading towards the goalpost guarded by the other side's Keeper. They may throw the ball in any of three goalposts to win ten points. They will throw their ball to one of their other Chasers when the opposing side tries to get the ball off them. Beaters will try to knock them off course using Bludgers. If they score, the opposing Keeper will throw the ball back into play.

The goals

Seekers start looking for the Snitch. They need try and catch it when it will guarantee their side a victory. The opposing Seeker will try to fool the other in their pursuit. They tag each other in case one spotted the Snitch first. Snitches have flesh memories to ensure it can be proven who caught it first. A game ends when a Seeker catches the Snitch, ideally when it will guarantee their side victory.

A game goes on until the Snitch is caught. A captain has the option of demanding a time-out whenever they need. Players fly however high they wish but had to keep within the boundary of the pitch. A team could be given a penalty if the other side breaks a rule. They are taken by a Chaser with the Keeper being the only player allowed to intervene.

Pitches

Drawing of the pitch

The pitches are an oval shape, five-hundred feet long and one-hundred and eighty feet wide. In the center is a small center circle about two feet in diameter. At each end of the pitch are three high hoops, the center hoop being a slightly higher than the other two. Surrounding the pitch are high stands for spectators including a platform circling the whole pitch.

These pitches are located in places where they can't be easily discovered by Muggles. They are enchanted with anti-Muggle charms like Repelling Spells. Originally, pitches had to be at least fifty miles away from a Muggle town which was changed a few years later to one-hundred miles. In 1398, Zacharias Mumps advised that pitches needed to be built on abandoned moorlands. In 1419, the Wizards' Council declared they should not play anywhere near a place where they could be spotted.

In the present day, Quidditch is played on deserted moorlands that have been set up by the Department of Magical Games and Sports who ensure anti-Muggle precautions are upheld. Quidditch teams cannot play locally and have to travel to these pitches.

Changes to Quidditch

Since the fourteenth century, Quidditch has undergone some significant changes. These are:

• Referees were originally called a "Quijudge".
• Scoring used to be achieved through large baskets on poles. These are now scoring hoops.
• A scoring area was added in the seventeenth century.
• The seventeeth century baskets on top of the pole were considerably smaller and higher than they were in the fourteenth century.
• In 1883, the scoring baskets were changed to open hoops.

Equipment

• Broomstick
• Team jersey and cape
• Gloves
• Goggles when it rains
• Four Beater bats
• One Quaffle
• Two Bludgers
• One Snitch

Competitions

There are several Leagues and competitions that take place around the world. These are:

• British and Irish Quidditch League: thirteen teams compete every year to win the League Cup in Britain and Ireland.
• Quidditch World Cup: every four years, national teams compete against each other.
• European Cup: also played every three years by national European teams.

Rules

Hogwarts' pitch

The International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee enforces the rules of present-day Quidditch. These rules were created by the Department of Magical Games and Sports in 1750. Known rules include:

• Players can't go over the boundary lines of the pitch, but they can fly however high they want. If the rule is broken, the Quaffle is given to the opposing side.
• The captain can signal the referee for a time-out whenever they want. The time-out is the only period where players can return to thr ground. If the game has been played for twelve hours, then the time-out can be two hours long. Every player has to be back on the pitch before the game is scheduled to restart or the team will forfeit the match.
• The referee can award penalties. Chasers are the only players who are allowed to take it. They have to fly in from the center circle of the pitch toward the scoring area. Only the Keeper can try saving it. The other players cannot intervene.
• Players should not seize hold of another player's broomstick, body or clothes. Chasers can only take the Quaffle out of their opponent's grasp.
• There are no substitutions, even in the case of injury, unless the game goes on for such a long time that the first players need to sleep.
• Per the right to carry a wand at all times established by the International Confederation of Wizards, players can take a wand on the pitch but they should not attempt to put any spell on another player, a spectator or on any of the balls. First established in 1538.
• A game should only end if a Seeker catching the Golden Snitch or if both Captains agree to end it.

Other known rules that aren't referenced to in Quidditch Through the Ages are:

• A Keeper can't be attacked unless a ball is in the scoring area.
• If players take a wand on the pitch, they can only be used in the event of a life-threatening situation.

Tactics

These are some of the tactics players have created over the centuries which ensure Quidditch is thrilling to watch and the game has been pushed as far as it can go:

From Quidditch Through the Ages

• Bludger's Backbeat - when the Beater hits the Bludger with a back-hand swing in order to confuse the opposition.
• Dopplebeater Defence - both Beaters knock the same Bludger at the same time for extra power.
• Double Eight Loop - the Keeper flying in front of the three goals in one loop in order to save a goal.
• Hawkshead Attacking Formation - when the Chasers form an arrowhead pattern and fly together towards the goal.
• Parkin's Pincer - when two Chasers trap an opposing team's Chaser and the third on their own team commits blatching (the cheating tactic in which they purposely collide with a player).
• Plumpton Pass - hiding the Snitch in the Seeker's sleeve to confuse the opponents.
• Porskoff Ploy - one Chaser will fly upwards and then throw the ball down to the player right underneath them.
• Reverse Pass - a Chaser throwing the Quaffle to their fellow Chaser over their shoulder.
• Sloth Grip Roll - hanging upside down on broom and gripping with hands and feet in order to avoid the Bludger.

The Starfish and Stick

• Starfish and Stick - the Keeper holds the broom horizontally with one hand and foot around the handle and keeping their other limbs outstretched.
• Transylvanian Tackle - when a player fake punches an opponent's nose to confuse them (it's legal if they don't actually touch them).
• Woollongong Shimmy - the Chasers fly in a zig-zag motion to confuse the opposing team's Chasers.
• Wronski Feint - the Seeker will sharply dive from a high height when pretending to have found and catch the Snitch, making the opposing team's Chaser follow them. The original Seeker will then pull up from the ground at the final second, making the other Seeker dive right at it and crash.

Fouls

There are seven-hundred known ways of cheating which have been documentated and kept in the Department of Magical Games and Sports records. These are not available to the public because the department doesn't want witches and wizards to "get ideas". Ninety percent of the fouls are impossible so long the ban of using wands are upheld, while a lot of the fouls in the other ten percent would not occur to the average player.

Kennilworthy Whisp was given access to the records during his research for Quidditch Through the Ages, and lists the top ten most common fouls in the book. These are:

• Blagging: seizing an opponent's broom to slow or hinder.
• Blatching: flying with the intent to collide.
• Blurting: locking broom handles to steer the opponent off course.
• Bumphing: hitting Bludgers towards the spectators to halt the game (used by Beaters only).
• Cobbing: constantly using elbows on opponents.
• Flacking: when the Keeper pushes the Quaffle out of the goal hoop using their anatomy instead of blocking at the front.
• Haversacking: keeping a hand on the Quaffle while it goes through the goal hoop instead of throwing it (used by Chasers only).
• Quaffle-pocking: tampering with the Quaffle, e.g. puncturing it and making it fall more quickly or zig-zagging (used by Chasers only).
• Snitchnip: when a player other than the Seekers touch or catch the Golden Snitch.
• Stooging: when two or three Chasers enter the scoring area to hold back the Keeper while the other one scores, which is now prevented with the rule that only one Chaser can be in the area at one time (used by chasers only).

The following cheating tactics were employed by players in final of the first ever Quidditch World Cup in 1473. Every single known way of cheating happened during this game, including:

• Transfiguring a Chaser into a polecat.
• Attempted decapitation of a Keeper with a broadsword.
• The letting loose of one hundred blood-sucking vampire bats from under the robes of the Transylvanian captain.
• Setting fire to an opponent's broom tail.
• Attacking an opponent's broom with a club.
• Attacking an opponent with an axe.

History

Ancient broom games

"At the sound of the horn they were swiftly airborne
But ten of their number were fated to die."

— From the song of the game of Creaothceann.

The old scoring baskets

The present-day game of Quidditch is derived from ancient flying games which were combined together. These archaic games were popular in the local areas where they were played but they didn't achieve international popularity.

• Aingingein - invented in Ireland. People flew on broomsticks through barrels which had been set alight in the air, clutching a ball in one hand. At the end of the course was a goal they had the throw the ball through. The player who completed the course in the shortest time was named the winner.
• Creaothceann - invented in Scotland. It involved a number of boulders being enchanted in the air while each player had a cauldron on their head. When the horn was sounded, the boulders were let loose and players had to try catching the boulders in their cauldron. The one who caught the highest total wom. The game was outlawed many years ago because it was very violent. Players had been killed.
• Shuntbumps - invented in Devon, England. Players tried to knock people off their broom. The last one standing won.
• Stichstock - invented in Germany. A number of players had to pierce an inflated dragon bladder defended by a single Keeper. Whoever managed to do so first won.
• Swivenhodge - invented in Herefordshire, England. Players knocked an inflated pig's bladder at each other over a hedge. It was the only known ancient Quidditch game which involved a "ball" being passed.

Evolution of Quidditch

In 1050, a witch by the name of Gertie Keddle wrote in her diary about three games she had observed in Queerditch Marsh. Her writing tracked its evolution, with the first entry recording the players throwing a ball to each other on broomsticks. When they dropped the ball into her cabbages, she hexed the man who showed up for it.

In her second entry, she noted that the players now had a new ball which they were now using to score goals through trees. In her third diary entry, they had bewitched rocks and boulders to fly around, which were trying to knock players off their broom. These flying rocks evolved into Bludgers. A known player that day was a "big Scottish warlock" who was possibly a Creaothceann player and behind the idea to enchant the rocks.

The game does not reappear in any record until a century later when Goodwin Kneen wrote a letter to his Norweigan cousin, Olaf. The game had evolved significantly and was now called "Kwidditch". Instead of scoring through trees, they were using barrels on stilts to score through. The player positions and their equipment had names and there were a few organised teams. Chasers were called "Catchers" and the Bludger was called the "Blooder". There was also an early form of a Beater using a bat to hit the "Blooder".

Introduction of the Golden Snitch

"When the poor little Snidget flew my way I did a Summoning Charm. You know how good my Summoning Charms are, Pru – of course it was easier for me to aim properly, not being mounted on a broomstick at the time. The little bird went zooming into my hand."

— Modesty Rabnott saving the Golden Snidget from being hunted.

By the time of Goodwin Kneen's letter, Kwidditch was getting very popular and key elements found in the present-day game of Quidditch could be found including three of the four balls. However, the fourth ball, the Golden Snitch, didn't appear until a hundred years later.

Two Seekers, originally called Hunters

In a game played in in 1269, the Chief of the Wizards' Council, Barberus Bragge released a bird called the Golden Snidget which was already declining in numbers because of the popular sport of Snidget-hunting. Bragge told the players that he would reward the player who caught with one-hundred and fifty Galleons. The bird was kept in the boundary of pitch with Repelling Charms. Players spent the entire time chasing the Snidget rather than playing Quidditch.

One of the spectators, Modesty Rabnott, took pity on the Snidget and saved it using a Summoning Charm. She ran away after putting the bird under her robes and freed it, but she was caught by Bragge and fined ten Galleons. However, the damage was caused to the Snidgets because the news of their involvement in the game led to the introduction of a new position called the "Hunter" 2ho had to catch and kill a Snidget in every game. Doing so ended the game and awarded their team one-hundred and fifty points, a total in honour of the prize money offered by Bragge.

Over the years, the number of Snidgets declined until they were on the verge of extinction. Elfrida Clagg of the Wizards' Council made it a protected species. The Modesty Rabnott Snidget Reservation in Somerset was created in order to protect the Snidgets, ensuring their survival. With this, the bird could no longer be used in Quidditch games so there had to be suitable new substitute for the Snidget.

The Golden Snitch

Bowman Wright of Godric's Hollow invented a ball that mimicked the Snidget which he called the Golden Snitch - a golden ball eith the same size and weight of the Snidget that has silver wings bewitched to follow its flight pattern and agility. The ball is bewitched to stay within the boundary of the pitch without the need for the spectators using Repelling Spells. When the Golden Snitch was invented, the process of building the present-day version of Quidditch was considered complete.

Later history

The 1994 Quidditch World Cup

In 1362, the Wizards' Council outlawed all Quidditch-playing within fifty miles of Muggle habitants. In 1368, they increased this to a hundred miles.

By 1385, Quidditch had been spreading outside of England and was established in Ireland. A team of Warlocks flew from Cork to Lancashire where they beat the local team. They had skills with the Quaffle that the locals hadn't seen before, and the upset locals drew their wands and chased the Irish players away.

In 1357, referee Cyprian Youdle was killed during a local match when he was struck with a curse.

In 1398, the first ever full description of Quidditch was written by Zacharias Mumps. Zacharias suggested that games are to be played with anti-Muggle security including games having to be played on deserted moorlands, far away from Muggle habitations, with Repelling Charms being used on permanent pitches. He also thought that it was preferable to play at night and to ensure players cannot be spotted on broomsticks when they are flying.

In 1419, the Wizards' Council issued a decree that Quidditch should not be played anywhere near a place that has "the slightest chance that a Muggle might be watching". The final sentence of the decree is famous, with the threat that breaking this rule will result in the lawbreakers finding out how well they can play while they are "chained to a dungeon wall".

Quidditch by J. K. Rowling

By the early fifteenth century, Quidditch had spread into Europe. Norway was one of the first outside of Britain and Ireland, shown in a poem written by Ingolfr in the early 1400s. French wizard, Malecrit also wrote a play in this time period which has a character that plays Quidditch.

In 1473, the first ever Quidditch World Cup took place with teams that were only European. It is thought that teams from further afield did not attend because of distance including the failure of owls to deliver the invitations.

In 1538, there was a new rule established that wands cannot be used against the opposing team.

In the early seventeenth century, Quidditch reached North America but was very slow to grow in popularity. Witches and wizards wanted to start over in the New World without experiencing prejudice from anti-wizarding Muggles. After restricting the growth for some time, the United States and Canada began to allow Quidditch to spread there.

In the late seventeenth century, the International Statute of Secrecy was established. This made the Ministry of Magic responsible for Quidditch games within its territory and thus prevent Muggles ever finding out about the sport. The Department of Magical Games and Sports was set up in Britain to be responsible for its games.

Within the same century, Quidditch was first introduced to New Zealand by a group of herbologists on a research expedition. After a day of collecting plant samples, the group enjoyed a game of Quidditch which was observed by the bemused local wizards and witches. Carvings and paintings by the Maori were created during this time of white wizards playing Quidditch.

In the 1620, a scoring area was first added according to a diagram drawn by Quintius Umfraville in his book The Noble Sport of Quidditch. The scoring baskets were also noticeably smaller and higher than they used to be.

In 1674, the British and Irish Quidditch League was established by the Department of Magical Games and Sports. They invited the thirteen best teams in Britain and Ireland to join the League and disbanded the others. They compete for the League Cup every year. There is also now a European Cup.

In the eighteenth century, Quidditch spread to Australia. However, in the United States of America, a variant of Quidditch called Quodpot was invented. American witches and wizards prefer to focus on Quadpot but although the game has some interest in Europe, the wizarding community there have remained faithful to Quidditch.

By 1883, the wicker scoring baskets that had been used for centuries were changed to open hoops by the Department of Magical Games and Sports. This decision did not make Quidditch fans happy and they protested against the change. The Daily Prophet published an article about it entitled "Bring Back Our Baskets!", which includes a comment from a representative. This was in response to protestors who thought they were going to burn the baskets.

The representative explained that the reason for the change was to create fairness across the sport. The baskets did not have a standard size, with one pitch in England having big wickets for their own team and a small, grape-sized one for the opposition to score through. The hoop sizes are the same across the board. However, the protestors were still unhappy with the change and started throwing the baskets at them. The riot was later blamed on goblin activists. One fan gave their opinion to the Daily Prophet and talked about burning the baskets for fun during games when he was a child.

In 1884, the Department of Magical Games and Sports announced that only one Chaser can be in the scoring area at one time. Chasers had been using the stooging tactic at an increasing rate, which was unfair and led to Keeper injuries. Although fans protested and threw Quaffles at a representative, the new rule took effect.

Recent history

The New Zealand Ministry of Magic has to spend significant time and money to obtain Maori art created by witches and wizards depicting white wizards playing Quidditch in the seventeenth century, in order to prevent Muggles from discovering it first. These are now on display in the Ministry.

Quidditch is getting increasingly popular across the African continent. Uganda is particularly keen on the sport.

In the present day, a ticket has to be purchased to attend a Quidditch game. Fans can feel short-changed if the Snitch is caught very early.

Trivia

• Luxembourg is known for always being a strong Quidditch nation.
• Australia is considered a great place to find territory for Quidditch-playing and pitches because of the huge expanses of the uninhabited outback.
• Australian and New Zealander teams possess great speed and showmanship which is thrilling for European spectactors to watch.
• The United States of America has less world-class Quidditch teams than other countries because they have focused more on their own variant called Quodpot. Quidditch also competes with Quodpot in South America.
• Peru is considered the most skilled country at Quidditch in South America. They are likely to have had their first experience with Quidditch when European wizards were sent to monitor Peruvian Vipertooths.
• Quidditch is not particularly popular in the East, where they prefer flying carpets to broomsticks and regard Quidditch with some suspicion. However, there are fans within these countries and Japan has developed a growing interest in Quidditch over the twentieth century.