Harry Potter's Quidditch finds popularity in muggle world!

Injuries in this sport are brutal. I once saw someone's skull crack open," says Michael Belsole. The American sports enthusiast isn't talking about rugby, American football or basketball but about muggle quidditch, the game that has moved from the magical world of Harry Potter to sports fields across the globe with the ninth world cup scheduled to be held in Germany this July.

Born in JK Rowling's imagination and finding expression in Harry Potter book series, quidditch became even more popular when the author penned Quidditch Through The Ages, in which she explained the rules and history of the sport.

Soon, the sport caught on with the muggles (the term for 'non-magic people' in the Harry Potter realm), who adapted the game from players chasing each other on flying broomsticks into the real world, where contestants run around with the broom between their legs.

Belsole, a food truck entrepreneur in Mt Vernon, New York, played in the inaugural college season in 2008, but the first quidditch match took place in Middlebury College in Vermont on October 9, 2005 due to the initiative of students Xander Manshel and his friend Alex Benepe.

"At first, people either loved it or hated it. Luckily, a lot more loved it, so muggle quidditch began to grow," says Benepe in an email interview. Since the college had just over 2,400 students, it began as a social activity. "It was fun and we hosted annual tournaments. The events started becoming intense and soon, other colleges began to participate," adds Benepe, who is now the chief executive officer of US Quidditch, the organisation that governs the sport of quidditch in the US.

After Benepe graduated, he and his friends made muggle quidditch a non-profit league by launching the International Quidditch Association and hosting events in other colleges and cities. "Fortunately, social media was on the rise at the time," he says. That, along with press coverage, spread the word about muggle quidditch.

The inaugural year of the sport saw the first Quidditch World Cup. It had 10 teams from Middlebury College alone. In the years since, the game has grown exponentially. Benepe says the largest participation was in the fifth edition, which saw 8,000 attendees in New York. The ninth edition, which is also the third international championship, is scheduled to be held this July in Frankfurt, will have teams from the US, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Germany, France, Brazil and Canada.

Besides the fictional platform in the Harry Potter series, the 9 ¾ rule – allowing members of either gender to play in one team – encourages all genders to participate and compete equally on the pitch. The International Quidditch Association states: "Quidditch takes those benefits a step further by promoting a sport that is truly free of gender-based restrictions."

Playing by the rules

Much like wizard quidditch, muggle quidditch has a team of seven players: three chasers, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker. The chasers, who would throw the quaffle (a spherical object) into hoops in the original game, now throw a volleyball into hula hoops that act as goalposts.

Belsole recalls his time as a chaser with his team. "They would call me 'bullet'," he proclaims, adding that the initial bit of balancing a broom and throwing a ball into a hula hoops was tough, at first. "Obviously, we cannot fly, so we run with the broom between our legs. In some cases, particularly in the big games, players end up using PVC pipes instead of brooms" Much like the original game, the keeper stands in front of the hoops to prevent the ball from entering.

While the chasers score, the beaters aim to throw a ball, called the bludger, at you. In wizarding quidditch, beaters would use a bat to smack the bludger in the direction of the chaser or the seeker in order to distract them. But in the muggle variant of the game, beaters throw dodge balls at their opponents.

The human snitch

There are two fundamental differences between muggle and wizard quidditch. First, if the seeker catches the snitch, then unlike the wizard version of the game that gives the team 150 points, the muggle variant gives the team 30 points.

Second, the snitch in muggle quidditch is human. "The human snitch is amazing. Rules state that seekers can't touch him/her, but the snitch can do anything s/he wants 'within law and mortality'," he says.

The individual is dressed in gold and puts a tennis ball in a sock, which is then tucked into the shorts. "Snitches don't use broomsticks and have a 30-second head start while other players have their heads down. If the individual is a track and field athlete, s/he can get pretty far in 30 seconds. Once seekers are allowed to look up, the snitch has disappeared and it's a mad dash to find them. The seekers usually don't come back for five or 10 minutes," Belsole explains.

Raising funds

Although the sport has gained popularity, it isn't recognised by Warner Bros or Scholastic, the companies that own Harry Potter merchandise rights. This despite the fact that JK Rowling has acknowledged the International Quidditch Federation.

Organisers and players lament the lack of funds to play the game. In fact, Benepe says, leagues charge membership dues and sell event tickets to raise money. "Teams conduct fundraisers to pay for league costs. National teams also use fundraising websites to get other players and teams in the league for support," he says.

Players also make the best of what they have. According to Belsole, many tend to make their brooms by taking an old broomstick and wrapping coloured paper around it. "Professional broomsticks, which are now available, are still expensive," he says.

"Rather than abatement, we've only seen accelerating interest in the game, which people are beginning to see as their own sport and not a fantasy reenactment. Lofty claims, I know, but I'm very excited, because now is our time to begin proving all of that," Benepe had once said in an interview to Wired.

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Muggle quidditch in India

While quidditch hasn't picked up in India, social media was abuzz when photographer Anshu Agarwal captured students playing quidditch in Kalap, Uttarakhand. Agarwal, who worked with the Kalap Trust as a teacher, used Harry Potter to teach English to the children. "I'd show them Harry Potter movies on Sundays. I thought a quidditch-themed shoot would excite them," he says.

Rules of the game

There are seven players on each team: three 'chasers', two 'beaters', one 'keeper' and one 'seeker'. There is also a 'snitch runner', who is not a member of either team.

The chasers move the 'quaffle' (volleyball) down the field by running or passing it to each other. They score by throwing or kicking the quaffle through the opposing team's goal hoops. Each score is worth 10 points.

The beaters throw 'bludgers' (dodge balls) at the opposing team's players to temporarily knock them out of play.

The keeper defends his team's hoops and prevents the other team from scoring.

The snitch runner wears the 'snitch; (a tennis ball in a sock) tucked into the back of his shorts. His job is to avoid being caught by the seekers. He is the only player who does not 'ride' a broom, and he can leave the playing field area. None of the rules that apply to the other players apply to him.

The seekers hunt the snitch runner and try to remove the snitch from him. When a seeker catches the snitch, his team receives an extra 30 points and the game ends.

The team with the most points wins.