Quidditch

George Weasley: "Rough game, Quidditch."

Fred Weasley: "Brutal, but no one's died in years."

— Fred & George Weasley

Quidditch is a wizarding sport played on broomsticks. It is the most popular game and most well-known game among wizards and witches, and, according to Rubeus Hagrid, the equivalent to Muggles' passion for football.

The object of the game is to score more points than your opponents. Each goal is worth ten points and catching the Golden Snitch is worth one-hundred and fifty points. The game ends when the Snitch is caught or an agreement is reached between the captains of both teams. Some games can go on for many days if the Snitch is not caught (the record, according to Quidditch Through the Ages, is six months, although no one caught the Snitch.)

History of Quidditch
While Quidditch was the first (and so far, only) broomstick-based game to attain near-worldwide popularity amongst the wizarding people, it was certainly not the first broomstick game. 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 vast appeal that Quidditch today has. The beauty of Quidditch was that it took the best aspects of all its predecessors, added its own unique twists, and ended up as a game that would remain popular with the masses for centuries.

A game by the name of Stichstock 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.[1] This game may have been the inspiration for the Quidditch position of Keeper.

An Irish game by the name of Aingingein 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 was 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 (this game has been outlawed for many years).[1] This game, as noted in Quidditch Through the Ages, is thought to be the inspiration of the Beater position.

Shuntbumps was a very simple form of broomstick-jousting where one flyer attempts to knock the other off his broom.

A game rather like tennis on a broom, Swivenhodge involved hitting an inflated pig's bladder backwards and forwards across a hedge. This game could have been the inspiration of the Quidditch position of Chaser, simply because it was the first and only mentioned broom game involving a ball being passed, barring Quidditch itself.

The evolution of Quidditch
The sport of Quidditch gets its name from Queerditch Marsh, the location of the first ever 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.

Quidditch players flying on old fashion tree-like broomsticks

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 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 a hundred 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. =

Main article: Golden Snitch
"This... is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages —"

—Oliver Wood

Modern 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 great 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 one-hundred and fifty Galleons — a large sum of money, particularly in those times — would be awarded to the player who caught the bird.

This was 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 ten 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 one-hundred and fifty points were awarded in memory of the one-hundred and fifty 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.

Bowman Wright, inventor of the Golden Snitch
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.

Committees
The International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee is the international body that oversees the game of Quidditch. There is also the International Association of Quidditch and the Federation Internationale de Quidditch Association (FIQA), that organised the Quidditch World Cup every four years. Quidditch is governed in Britain by the Department of Magical Games and Sports, where the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters are situated.

Main article: Quidditch pitch
"Zacharias Mumps describes the fourteenth-century pitch as oval-shaped, five hundred feet long and a hundred and eighty feet wide with a small central circle (approximately two feet in diameter) in the middle."

—The fourteenth-century pitch

Quidditch Pitch

The Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, a modern pitch
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, from which all the balls are released at the start of the game. At each end there are three hooped goal posts of different heights, surrounded by a scoring area. As 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).

The three hooped goal posts that are used nowadays, were originally barrel-goals in the Sport of Warl's time. At the time of the introduction of the scoring area, they were 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, a 'stooging penalty', 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. Both these changes caused a considerable amount of controversy, which resulted in riots and threats against the minister.

Quidditch pitches are built in places where they will not attract Muggle attention. This began in 1398 when the wizard Zacharias Mumps emphasised the need for anti-Muggle security while playing the game: "Choose areas of deserted moorland far from Muggle habitations and make sure that you cannot be seen once you take off on your brooms. Muggle-repelling charms are useful if you are setting up a permanent pitch. It is advisable, too, to play at night." The advice of Mumps must not have always been followed as in 1362, the Wizards' Council outlawed playing Quidditch within fifty miles of a known Muggle town. This was amended in 1368, possibly due to growing popularity of the game. This amendment made the playing of the sport within one-hundred miles of a Muggle town illegal, famously worded as not to play "anywhere near any place where there is the slightest chance a Muggle is watching or we'll see how well you can play while chained to a dungeon wall."

The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy of 1692 made all Ministries of Magic responsible for the consequences of magical sports in their territories. The Department of Magical Games and Sports was created for this purpose. Quidditch teams that flouted Ministry guidelines were disbanded. One such instance was the Banchory Bangers.

Match overview
" Mount your brooms, please." Harry clambered onto his Nimbus Two Thousand. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off."

—The start of a 1991 Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match.

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 (This is similar to how the games of basketball and Gaelic football, popular Muggle sports begin by the referee throwing the ball in the air).

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, although captains can call for a time out. 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 team's 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 150 points to the team whose Seeker made the catch. The Snitch is bewitched to respond to the first witch or wizard to make contact with it, in case there is any dispute regarding which Seeker touched it first. Despite this, there have been several instances in which the Snitch has been fumbled. The winner of the game is the team with the most points, regardless of who caught the Golden Snitch. As a result, it is possible, although difficult, to win the game even though the opposing team caught the Snitch, if your team is one hundred and sixty or more points ahead, as was the case of the final match between Ireland and Bulgaria of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup. It is never explained what happens in the event of a tie.

Positions
The game is played by two teams of seven people (three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and one Seeker) and involves four balls (a Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch).

The Keeper guards the goalposts, while the three Chasers score goals with the Quaffle by tossing it into one of the opposing team's three goal posts. The two Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team and hit the Bludgers towards the opposing team, and the Seeker catches the Golden Snitch to end the game. The team whose Seeker catches the Snitch is awarded 150 points, but this does not necessarily mean they will win if the other team still has more points after the Snitch is caught.