Quidditch is a fictional airborne ballgame (played on broomsticks), a sort of magical variant of football or polo. It was devised by J. K. Rowling for her Harry Potter series of children's books.

Quidditch is the most popular game of the wizarding world. There are numerous professional teams and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has one team for each house in the school. There are several professional Quidditch sides. In the fourth book, Harry attends the Quidditch World Cup for international teams.

Rules

Main Article: Rules of Quidditch

Quidditch is played on a long oval field with three goal hoops on posts at each end. The team that scores the most points wins. There are seven players to a team; one Keeper, two Beaters, three Chasers and a Seeker. They play with four balls.

The Quaffle is inert and the equivalent to the one ball used in many muggle games. Chasers handle it, trying to throw it through one of the hoops of the opposing team, which is worth ten points. The Keeper guards his or her goal hoops. Two balls are heavy Bludgers that fly around the field on their own, trying to hit players, and the Beaters use bats to defend their team or to hit the Bludgers at the opposing team. Finally, the tiny and winged Golden Snitch darts around at very high speeds and the Seeker attempts to catch it. Doing so scores 150 points and ends the game, generally winning it in the process.

Several fans question the rules concerning the Snitch, accusing the author of using them as a plot device to make Harry Potter (a Seeker for Gryffindor house team) as singlehandedly responsible for his team's victories as possible.

History

It has been suggested that the name "Quidditch" is derived from the names of the balls: Quaffle, Bludger and Snitch, though, in the story world, the game is named after Queerditch Marsh, where the earliest version of the game was played in the eleventh century.

According to the book Quidditch began as a simple broom-based game, with players passing a leather ball, the quaffle, which they attempted to place in goals at either ends of the pitch. Soon after, the Bludgers were added as charmed rocks, possibly an influence from the Scottish game Creaothceann, in which players attempted to catch falling rocks in a cauldron attached to their heads.

Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays as Harry Potter in the Warner Brothers movies, holds the Snitch during his first year at Hogwarts.

The addition of the Golden Snitch also derived from an earlier wizarding sport, in which wizards attempted to catch a Golden Snidget, a fast-moving magical bird. In 1269, the Chief of the Wizards Council, Barberous Bragge, unleashed a Golden Snidget offering 150 galleons to the player who caught the bird. A value of 150 points was later added to the bird as a tribute to this event, though in time the Golden Snidget was replaced with an enchanted ball as the bird became endangered.

Quodpot, a variant of Quidditch, is popular in the USA and South America.

House Teams

Each of the four Hogwarts houses has its own Quidditch team. Here are listed both past and present players of the teams, with the latter in italics. It should be noted that after the events at the end of Book 5, at least one major character is likely to return to playing.

Gryffindor

• Katie Bell (Chaser, 1989-1995)
• Angelina Johnson (Chaser, 1990-1996)
• Andrew Kirke (Beater, 1996- )
• Harry Potter (Seeker, 1991- )
• James Potter (Chaser (Seeker in the films), 1972-1978)
• Jack Sloper (Beater, 1996- )
• Alicia Spinnet (Chaser, 1990-1996)
• Oliver Wood (Keeper, 1988-1994)
• Charlie Weasley (Seeker, 1985-1991)
• Fred Weasley (Beater, 1990-1995)
• George Weasley (Beater, 1990-1995)
• Ginny Weasley (Seeker, 1995- )
• Ron Weasley (Keeper, 1995- )

Slytherin

• Miles Bletchley
• Bole
• Vincent Crabbe
• Derrick
• Marcus Flint (Beater, 1987-1994)
• Gregory Goyle
• Terence Higgs
• Draco Malfoy (seeker)
• Montague
• Adrian Pucey
• Warrington

Ravenclaw

• Cho Chang (1991-1997)
• Roger Davies
• Bradley

Hufflepuff

• Cedric Diggory (Seeker, 1989-1994)
• Zacharias Smith
• Summerby

Commentator

• Lee Jordan

Professional teams

Main article: British and Irish Quidditch Teams

• Appleby Arrows
• Ballycastle Bats
• Caerphilly Catapults
• Chudley Cannons
• Falmouth Falcons
• Holyhead Harpies
• Kenmare Kestrels
• Montrose Magpies
• Pride of Portree
• Puddlemere United
• Tutshill Tornados
• Wigtown Wanderers
• Wimbourne Wasps

For disbanded and international teams, see List of Quidditch Teams.

Quidditch in the real world

• There have been computer games that simulate playing Quidditch.

• There have been small-scale attempts to adapt Quidditch to the technology available in the real world, using e.g. bicycles instead of broomsticks.

References