Quidditch League Wiki

This wiki is made for anyone curious about quidditch leagues or cups worldwide.

## Popular Pages - Club Quidditch

* List of teams
* List of schools
* Season 1
* Schedule
* Perchance

## Popular Pages - International Quidditch

* 2014 World Cup
* 1994 World Cup
* Aruba
* Slovenia
* Quidditch World Cup

## Popular Pages - Quidditch Tactics

*No pages or articles on quidditch tactics have been posted yet.*

## What Is Quidditch?

" 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

There were seven players on a Quidditch team: three *Chasers*, two *Beaters*, one *Keeper*, and one *Seeker*. The game was played with four balls: a *Quaffle*, two *Bludgers*, and a *Golden Snitch*.

The Chasers handled the Quaffle and earned points by tossing it through any one of a set of three goalposts on the opposing teams side of the field. Each goal was worth 10 points. The Keeper guarded the goalposts in an effort to prevent the opposing teams Chasers from scoring.

The Seeker tried to catch the Golden Snitch before the opposing team's Seeker could. The Golden Snitch flew very fast and was difficult to see. When and only when the Snitch was caught did the game end, and the Seeker who caught the Snitch earned 150 points for their team.

The two Bludgers were highly aggressive balls that flew through the air and tried to knock the players off their broomsticks. The two Beaters each used a bat to hit the Bludgers in an effort to keep them away from their own teammates, as well as to send the Bludgers towards the members of the opposing team.

The game started with the referee releasing all four balls from the central circle on the field. The Bludgers and Snitch were bewitched to fly off of their own accord, but the Quaffle was 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).

After a goal was scored, the opposing team's Keeper would throw the Quaffle back into play. Teams continued using the same goalposts to score throughout the game.

The game only ended when the Golden Snitch was caught, or if the Captains of both teams managed to reach an agreement. Some games could go on for many days if the Snitch was not caught (the record for the longest game, according to *Quidditch Through the Ages*, was six months, although no one caught the Snitch). Since the lengths of Quidditch games were variable (some games could go on for days if the Golden Snitch was not caught) the game was not played in periods, although captains could call for a time out.

The winner of the game was the team with the most points, regardless of who caught the Golden Snitch. Catching the Golden Snitch was worth 150 points to the team whose Seeker made the catch, but this did not necessarily mean they would win, as the other team could still have more points after the Snitch was caught (i.e. if the other team had at least 160 more points when the Snitch was caught). As a result, it was possible, although difficult, to win the game even though the opposing team caught the Snitch, as was the case of the final match between Ireland and Bulgaria of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup.

The Snitch was bewitched to respond to the first witch or wizard to make contact with it, in case there was any dispute regarding which Seeker touched it first. Despite this, there have been several instances in which the Snitch has been fumbled.

It was never explained what happened in the event of a tie.

## About the ICWQC

The International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee or for short ICWQC; is the international regulatory body, subject to the International Confederation of Wizards, that oversees international Quidditch competitions. It is responsible for locating suitable venues, arranging transport for spectators, providing policing for the games themselves and arranging referees.

## Quidditch World Cup Qualifying

### **Format**

Participating countries are split in to sixteen separate leagues. Each team plays all the other teams in their league twice over a four-year period.

### **Scoring**

A win earns two points. In addition to these two points, a win by 150 points earned five points, by 100 points an extra three points and by 50 points an extra one point. A tie earns one point.

### **Qualifying**

The sixteen best teams decided by points per game (PPG) qualify for the World Cup knockout round. PPG are calculated by dividing the points by the number of games. If two teams are level on PPG, they are separated by whichever team captured the Snitch most often, or most quickly during their matches.

## The Quidditch World Cup Tournament

The tournament proper is straight knockout. The sixteen qualifying countries are ranked according to their PPG. The team who has the most PPG played the team who has the least, the team who earned the second most played the team who has the second least, and so on. This theoretically allows the two best teams from the qualifying phase to meet in the final.

## Rules

The worldwide popularity and playing of the game of Quidditch was closely monitored and analysed by the International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee.

In 1750, the British Ministry of Magic set down official rules for the game of Quidditch.

An amendment to the rules of Quidditch in 1849 determined that if a member of the crowd cast any spell on a player, their team would automatically forfeit the match, whether or not the team ordered or approved of the magic performed. (It is not clear how this was enforced, though, as taken literally, this rule would make it even easier to sabotage an opposing team with a false-flag attack).

### Fouls

There were seven hundred Quidditch fouls listed in the Department of Magical Games and Sports records, though the entire list was never made public (it was the department's view that some wizards and witches 'might get ideas'). 90% of these were banned anyway, by the rule concerning wand use against the opposing team (or rather, lack thereof) and the remaining 10% would not occur even to the dirtiest player. There were, however, 11 common fouls, named below (names of those to whom the fouls applied in brackets):

*Basic foul*: A player violently blocks the Seeker from capturing the Golden Snitch

*Blagging*: Seizing the opponent's broom tail to slow or hinder. (All players)

*Blocking*: Deliberately putting oneself in the way of the opposing team's Seeker, with the intention of obstructing their way towards the Snitch

*Cobbing*: Excessive use of elbows towards opponents. (All players)

*Flacking*: Pushing any portion of anatomy through the goal hoop in an attempt to push the Quaffle out – the Keeper should defend from the front, not the rear. (Keepers only)

*Snitchnip*: Any player other than Seeker touching or catching the Golden Snitch. (All players but Seeker)

2. ***Blurting***: Locking broom handles with the intent to steer an opponent off course. *(All players)*
3. ***Bumphing***: Hitting Bludgers towards spectators. *(Beaters only)*
2. ***Quaffle-pocking***: Tampering with the Quaffle – e.g. puncturing it so that it falls more quickly or zig-zags. *(Chasers only)*
3. ***Stooging***: More than one Chaser entering the scoring area. *(Chasers only)*

During the final of the 1473 Quidditch World Cup, all seven hundred fouls were committed. These naturally included all 11 aforementioned as well as:

* Transfiguring of a Chaser into a polecat.
* Attempted decapitation of a keeper with a broadsword.
* The release of one hundred blood-sucking vampire bats from under the Transylvanian Captain's robes during the game.
* Setting fire to an opponent's broom tail.
* Attacking an opponent's broom with a club.
* Attacking an opponent with an axe.

## History

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 owed a debt to a number of its forerunners in making it as successful as it became. All of these archaic broom games were popular in localised areas, but none had the vast appeal that Quidditch did. 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.

### Ancient predecessors

The main ancient games that provided some inspiration for Quidditch were:

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. 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). This game, as noted in *Quidditch Through the Ages*, was 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 others off of their broom.

A game rather like Tennis on a broomstick, 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.

### Evolution of the game

The sport of Quidditch got 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.

Her first note simply recorded 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 showed 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.

The third entry noted 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 was 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 survived from this time and gave 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 revealed 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 what Quidditch came to be.

The one missing element was the Golden Snitch.

### 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 —*"
— Description of the Snitch and a Seeker's job

The history of the Snitch was 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 was 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, and 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 was very fast, very small, and could make sudden changes of direction at high speeds. The considerable challenge posed by the flight patterns of the bird was 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. From then, 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.

Whilst most people looked for a suitable alternative bird to chase, Bowman Wright, a metal-charmer 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 was seen on the modern Quidditch pitch: 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 came to be, 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 modern Quidditch pitches was finalised.

## Fans

Quidditch was a hugely popular spectator sport. One hundred thousand fans attended the 1994 Quidditch World Cup final. Binoculars and Omnioculars were sometimes used by fans to view matches from the stands.

At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, there was such a small number of games, but each one was eagerly anticipated and usually attended by the entire school, including the teachers. When it came to Quidditch some of the Professors lost their normal calm demeanour and became as excited about the result as the students.

British Quidditch fans kept up to date with the latest Quidditch news in the *Daily Prophet* and *Seeker Weekly.*

Fans could buy a wide range of team merchandise including hats, scarves, flags, jerseys, badges and figurines.

## Leagues

There are 11 quidditch leagues for clubs. For more info, see List of Teams.

## Cups

The most important cup is the World Cup. For more information, see Quidditch World Cup.