Quidditch



Quidditch is a wizarding sport played on broomsticks. It is the most popular game among wizards.

The game is played by two teams of seven people (three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper and a Seeker) and involves four balls (a Quaffle, two Bludgers and a Golden Snitch). The Keeper guards the goal posts, the Chasers score goals with the Quaffle, the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team, and the Seeker catches the Golden Snitch. The object of the game is to score more points than your opponent. Each goal is worth ten points and catching the Snitch is worth one hundred and fifty points. The game ends only when the Snitch is caught.

Quidditch pitches


Quidditch pitches are typically in the shape of an oval, five hundred feet long and one hundred and eighty feet wide, with a small central circle of approximately two feet in diameter. At each end there are three hooped goal posts of different heights, surrounded by a scoring area. Because Quidditch is an aerial sport, Quidditch pitches usually feature spectator seating at high vantage points, whether in towers (such as at Hogwarts) or in a fully-encircling platform style (such as the British stadium that held the 1994 Quidditch World Cup).

Game progression
The game starts with the referee releasing all four balls from the central circle. The Bludgers and Snitch are bewitched to fly off of their own accord, but the Quaffle is thrown into the air by the referee to signal the start of play.

Since the lengths of Quidditch games are variable (some games can go on for days if the Golden Snitch is not caught) the game is not played in periods. Teams continue using the same goal posts to score throughout the game.

Chasers score by sending the Quaffle through any of the three goal hoops. Each goal scored is worth ten points. After a goal is scored, the opposing teams Keeper throws the Quaffle back into play.

The game only ends when the Golden Snitch is caught, or at the agreement of both team Captains. Catching the Golden Snitch is worth one hundred and fifty points to the team whose Seeker made the catch. The winner of the game is the team with the most points, regardless of who caught the Golden Snitch.

Rules
In 1750, the Department of Magical Games and Sports set down official rules for the game of Quidditch.
 * 1) Players must not stray over the boundary lines of the pitch, although they may fly as high as desired.  The Quaffle must be surrendered to the opposition if any player leaves the boundary.
 * 2) 'Time out' may be called at any time by the Captain of a team.  Time out may be extended to two hours if a game has already lasted for more than twelve hours. Failure  to return to the pitch after a this time will lead to the team being disqualified.
 * 3) Penalties can be rewarded to teams by the referee. A single Chaser may take the penalty by flying from the central circle towards the scoring area. The opposing team's Keeper may attempt to stop the shot being scored, but all other players must not interfere.
 * 4) Contact is allowed, but a player may not seize hold of another player's broomstick or any part of their anatomy.
 * 5) No substitution of players is allowed throughout the game, even if a player is too injured to continue to play.
 * 6) Players may take their wands onto the pitch, but they must not be used on or against any players, any players' broomsticks, the referee, any of the four balls, or the spectators.
 * 7) A game of Quidditch will only end once the Golden Snitch has been caught, or at the mutual consent of both team Captains.

Fouls
There are seven hundred Quidditch fouls listed in the Department of Magical Games and Sports records, but most of these fouls are explicit instances relating to the breaking of one of the major rules, and need not be listed in their entirety. There are, however, ten common fouls, named below:
 * Blagging: No player may seize any part of an opponent's broom to slow or hinder the player.
 * Blatching: No player may fly with the intent to collide
 * Blurting: No player may lock broom handles with the intent to steer an opponent off course
 * Bumphing: Beaters must not hit Bludgers towards spectators
 * Cobbing: Players must not use their elbows against opponents
 * Flacking: Keepers must not defend the posts from behind by punching Quaffles out of the hoops - goals must be defended from the front
 * Haversacking: Chasers must not still be in contact with the Quaffle as it passes through a hoop
 * Quaffle-pocking: Chasers must not tamper with the Quaffle in any way
 * Snitchnip: No player other than the Seeker may touch or catch the Golden Snitch
 * Stooging: No more than one Chaser is allowed in the scoring area at any one time

Quidditch in the films and video games
There are some minor differences between how Quidditch is represented in Kennilworthy Whisp's Quidditch Through the Ages and how it appears to be played in the films and video games.



Most notably in the films, the rule that players must not stray outside the pitch boundary is not evident, as players can be seen flying around the spectator towers at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, as well as the scene where the rogue bludger chases Harry and Malfoy around the outside of the pitch boundaries in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

There also seems to be more allowance for malicious acts in the films, as we see several instances where Slytherin players physically attack the opposition with no penalty.

In the video game Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, the rule of only having a single Chaser in the scoring area is not used. Additionally, the game allows for players to make special moves where by several goals are scored in succession as multiple Chasers pass the Quaffle back and forwards through the hoops. Whether or not this is actually allowable is unclear.

Hogwarts teams

 * Gryffindor
 * Hufflepuff
 * Ravenclaw
 * Slytherin

Africa

 * Patonga Proudsticks (Uganda)
 * Tchamba Charmers (Togo)
 * Gimbi Giant-Slayers (Ethiopia)
 * Sumbawanga Sunrays (Tanzania)

Asia

 * Toyohashi Tengu (Japan)

Australia and New Zealand

 * Moutohora Macaws (New Zealand)
 * Thundelarra Thunderers (Australia)
 * Woollongong Warriors (Australia)

Europe

 * Bigonville Bombers (Luxembourg)
 * Braga Broomfleet (Portugal)
 * Gorodok Gargoyles (Lithuania)
 * Grodzisk Goblins (Poland)
 * Heidelberg Harriers (Germany)
 * Quiberon Quafflepunchers (France)
 * Vratsa Vultures (Bulgaria)

North America

 * Fitchburg Finches (United States)
 * Hailbury Hammers (Canada)
 * Moose Jaw Meteorites (Canada)
 * Stonewall Stormers (Canada)
 * Sweetwater All-Stars (United States)

South America

 * Tarapoto Tree-Skimmers (Peru)

United Kingdom and Ireland

 * Appleby Arrows (United Kingdom)
 * Ballycastle Bats (United Kingdom)
 * Caerphilly Catapults (United Kingdom)
 * Chudley Cannons (United Kingdom)
 * Falmouth Falcons (United Kingdom)
 * Holyhead Harpies (United Kingdom)
 * Kenmare Kestrels (Ireland)
 * Montrose Magpies (United Kingdom)
 * Pride of Portree (United Kingdom)
 * Puddlemere United (United Kingdom)
 * Tutshill Tornadoes (United Kingdom)
 * Wigtown Wanderers (United Kingdom)
 * Wimbourne Wasps (United Kingdom)

History of Quidditch
Whilst Quidditch was the first (and so far, only) broomstick-based game to attain worldwide popularity amongst wizarding people, it was certainly not the first broomstick game of all. In truth, Quidditch probably owes a debt to a number of its forerunners in making it what it is today. All of these archaic broom games were popular in localised areas, but none had the universal appeal that Quidditch today has. The beauty of Quidditch was that it took the best aspects of all its precursors, added it's own twists to the mix, and ended up as a game that would remain popular with the masses for centuries.

Ancient games
The main ancient games that provided some inspiration for Quidditch are:


 * Stichstock: This game originated in Germany and consisted of a single wizard acting as a guardian or goalkeeper, trying to protect an inflated dragon bladder. A number of other players mounted on broomsticks would attempt to pierce the bladder, with the first who successfully did so being declared the winner.
 * Aingingein: This is an Irish game which required broomstick-mounted players to fly through a number of burning barrels set in the air, whilst all the time clutching a ball with one hand. At the end of this fiery course was a goal which the ball had to be hurled into. The wizard who completed the course and scored a goal in the shortest time was the winner.
 * Creaothceann: This is an exceptionally violent and often fatal game that originated in Scotland. A large number of boulders were charmed to hover in the air and each player had a cauldron strapped to his/her head. A horn was sounded, the rocks were released, and the players would fly around on their broomsticks trying to catch as many rocks in their cauldron as possible. The winner was the player who caught the most rocks.
 * Shuntbumps: This is a very simple form of broomstick-jousting where one flyer attempts to knock the other off his broom.
 * Swivenhodge: Rather like tennis on a broom, this involved hitting an inflated pig's bladder backwards and forwards across a hedge.

The evolution of Quidditch
The sport of Quidditch gets its name from Queerditch Marsh, the location of the first recorded game. A witch by the name of Gertie Keddle lived on the edge of the marsh around the year 1050 and recorded what she saw in a diary that survives to this day. Successive entries in her journal show the evolution of the game and how each element was introduced.

Her first note simply records her annoyance at a number of people playing a game with a ball whilst flying their broomsticks above the marsh. When the ball landed in her cabbage patch, she confiscated it and then hexed the man who asked for it.

A second entry shows that the players did not give up, but had made themselves a new ball and were then trying to score goals by throwing it through trees at the end of the marsh. This was the earliest incarnation of the Quaffle and the scoring hoops of today.

The third entry notes the introduction of flying rocks that had been bewitched to knock the players off their broomsticks, which were of course the forerunners of the Bludgers. She also mentioned the presence of a "big Scottish warlock" who may have been a Creaothceann player, which would show a clear link between the two sports.

With historical records of the time being rather limited, there is no further mention of Quidditch until 100 years later, around 1150. A letter sent from a wizard called Goodwin Kneen to his Norwegian cousin Olaf survives from this time and gives a clear indication of how far the game had come. It had gained a name (although it was spelt "Kwidditch" at this time) and a number of organised teams, as well as titles for players and equipment. From the letter it can be seen that early Chasers were known as "Catchers", and the Bludger began its life as the "Blooder".

Kneen's letter also reveals a new innovation: using three barrels mounted on stilts to use as the goals. This was undoubtedly a massive improvement from using trees as the goals and is a clear precursor to the hoops used in the modern game. Therefore it can be seen that the sport of "Kwidditch" played by Kneen was already very similar to the game as it is played today. The one missing element was the Golden Snitch.

The Golden Snitch
The history of the Snitch is perhaps the most interesting of all the Quidditch balls, and its introduction came as the direct result of a game played in 1269 in Kent. This is over a century on from Goodwin Kneen's letter to his cousin, and it seems that during this time, the game had acquired a good deal of popularity and organisation, but had altered in its format very little. It was, however, now routinely attended by large crowds of people who wanted to watch the game.



The 1269 game mentioned above was attended by Barberus Bragge, the Chief of the Wizards' Council. As a nod to the sport of Snidget-hunting, which was also popular at the time, Bragge brought such a bird to the game and released it from its cage. He told the players that 150 Galleons - a large sum of money, particularly in those times - would be awarded to the player who caught the bird.

This is easier said than done: the Snidget is very fast, very small, and can make sudden changes of direction at high speeds. The considerable challenge posed by the flight patterns of the bird is what made Snidget-hunting so popular in the first place. What happened at the Quidditch game in question was rather predictable: the players totally ignored the game, and each and every one simply went off in pursuit of the Snidget, which was kept within the arena by the crowd using Repelling Charms.

A witch named Modesty Rabnott, who was also watching the game, took pity on the Snidget and rescued it with a Summoning Charm before rushing away with it hidden inside her robes. She was caught by a furious Bragge and fined 10 Galleons for disrupting the game, but not before she had released the Snidget. This saved the life of this bird, but the connection with Quidditch had been made, and soon a Snidget was being released at every game. Each team had an extra player - originally called the Hunter, later the Seeker - whose sole job was to catch and kill the Snidget, for which 150 points were awarded in memory of the 150 Galleons offered by Bragge in the original game.

The vast popularity of the sport led to quickly declining Snidget numbers, and in the middle of the 14th century it was made a protected species by the Wizards Council, now headed by Elfrida Clagg. This meant that the bird could no longer be used for Quidditch purposes, and indeed the Modesty Rabnott Snidget Reservation was created in Somerset to safeguard the Snidget's future survival. The game of Quidditch, however, could not continue without a substitute.

Whilst most people looked for a suitable alternative bird to chase, a metal-charmer called Bowman Wright from Godric's Hollow had a different idea: he invented a fake Snidget which he called the Golden Snitch. His invention was pretty much what we see on the Quidditch pitch today: a golden ball with silver wings, the same size and weight as a real Snidget, bewitched to accurately follow its flight patterns. An additional benefit was that the ball was also charmed to stay within the playing area, removing the need for the continual use of Repelling Charms by the crowd.

The Snitch was approved as a Snidget substitute, the game of Quidditch could continue, and the modern sport as we know it was complete. All of the balls used in the modern game were now present, organised teams played against each other, and vast numbers of people came to watch. Whilst this may sound exactly like the sport as it is played today, there were still a few modifications to be made in terms of the playing pitch, and this continued to evolve until 1883 when the format of today's Quidditch pitches was finalised.

The Quidditch pitch
At the time of the introduction of the Golden Snitch, a standard Quidditch pitch consisted of an elongated oval playing area 500 feet long and 180 feet wide. It had a small circle at the centre, approximately 2 feet in diameter, from which all the balls were released at the start of the game. The barrel-goals of Goodwin Kneen's time had been replaced by baskets on stilts, but whilst these were practical, they did carry an inherent problem: there was no size restriction on the baskets, which differed dramatically from pitch to pitch.

By 1620, scoring areas had been added at each end of the pitch, and an additional rule in the game meant that only one Chaser was allowed in these areas at any given time, as noted in Quintius Umfraville's book "The Noble Sport of Warlocks". In addition, the size of the baskets themselves had reduced considerably, although there was still a certain amount of variation between pitches. Regulations were finally introduced in 1883 which replaced the baskets with hoops of a fixed size, and the modern Quidditch pitch was complete.