Pictures above show Muggle representations of the snitch. In reality, the artificial snitches used at Hogwarts and in amateur matches are soft to the touch, as they have flesh memories. Professional Quidditch tournaments use live snitches (birds).

Quidditch



"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴"

Well, it isn't really, but Muggle-borns who want to fit into the magical community should know something. No witch or wizard ever contests this statement because Quidditch is so big that every other wizarding sport pales into insignificance. Pretend a liking if you want to fit in.

Ok, we exaggerate a little.

The Golden Karind race where contestants use flying carpets to chase after the golden snitch is technically older than Quidditch and attracts bigger crowds than any Quidditch match. It is hugely popular in the Middle East, and the biggest stumbling block to Quidditch expanding there.

But leaving aside carpet racing, and its one big race near Baghdad, Quidditch has more tournaments, more money and more players. It is THE wizarding sport.

Playing Quidditch

So, Quidditch. How do you play it? The Harry Potter books explained that, so we'll refer you to the excellent explanation in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Just throw the red ball through the 3 hoops either end to score ten points, dodge the two black balls that try to knock players off their brooms and if you're the seeker on the team of 7, try to catch the golden ball for a whopping 150 points and Game Over.

Red ball = quaffle, Black balls = bludgers and Golden ball with wings = snitch

3 chasers to play with the quaffle, 2 beaters to keep the bludgers at bay and a seeker, like we said to catch the elusive snitch. Oh, and there's a keeper, who defends the hoops.

Any questions. No? Then you're ready to play Quidditch. Just get a decent broom and some neat set of robes. You might want a set like your favourite Quidditch team. What?! You don't have one? We'd better bring you up to date on the state of play then, and you can pick your favourite team. You probably want a history of Quidditch too? Alright, we'll zoom through that first (note, this is not in the HP books but you'll find like the style of the Daily Prophet articles we publish here, that it fits what the books say like a glove).

A short history of Quidditch

Quidditch like its name suggests means quid-ditch or 'ditching money.' The idea is that a money focused person is a bad sportsman and even bad at sport, 'cos they are inhibited in their actions. Think Surrey, Dursley territory, and the Muggle sport called cricket... played ever sooo... slowly, and without any athleticism or fitness whatsoever. The beer bellies of Botham and Gatting are perversely famous even among wizards. Whereas the idea behind the name of Quid-ditch is that one has to let go of worldly concerns (money, eating etc) and keep a pure focus. A concern for money blocks performance (so why are professional Quidditch players so rich? We'll get onto that later).

Quidditch is about 700 years old and was founded in Germany. You might ask how is Quidditch so old when the term 'quid', an alternative for the British pound is only a few centuries old, and why wasn't the game called the Markditch if it was invented in Germany?

The answer to that is that it is a typically wizard dilemma. You see, wizards have a bad habit of looking ahead. Yes, they do cheat a bit using divination or future sight. Wizards in Germany wanted a good name for their broom sport, and wanted it to mean 'money-ditch'. So, they searched the past, present and the crystal balls for a suitable name. That's why the British slang word for pound, quid, was used, hundreds of years before Britain even existed!

Serious. That's how it was. Quidditch was founded at the Altstraase ('Old Street') Club in the otherwise insignificant town of Heidelberg in southern Germany. That's where wizards chose its name, and made its rules. In the 1300s. And the Altstraase Open is still the 'unofficial' World Championship, the biggest Grand Slam.

The Muggle 'author' of Harry Potter, JK Rowling, has put it about that the name derives from Queer-ditch but you know now she's just being funny about the queers. But her teasing explanation about an old crone who thinks a ditch or dyke is er odd, while amusing (if you're not a weirdo) is not in the 7 books. There is no mention of its history, because it wasn't founded in England as Rowling later tried to make out.

(Why didn't she tell the truth or make up a decent history? Because the real author wouldn't let her... the explanation of Quidditch's origins take one to Germany, where Harry Potter plays after leaving Hogwarts. The subject of the 8th book. He's pretty selfish and wants to tell you the explanation himself. But let's not get into that, you'll know it soon enough)

In fact, it wasn't even properly founded in Germany either. The roots of Quidditch go back much further, to staff gliding in the Middle East and the use of snitches in China and Japan. Long story. That ancient and interesting background is one we unfortunately don't have time for here.

We'll just say this, that the best Quidditch is still played in Germany, which has two-thirds of the Opens or tournaments that make up the Quidditch tour.

The Quidditch Tour

But it's not the 60 or so tournaments that make up the professional Quidditch league or tour that are important. Every Quidditch club would trade all their wins in the leagues for a Grand Slam (think Tennis or Golf, where there are 3 or 4 big tournaments called Grand Slams, which everyone wants to win. That word originated from Quidditch, and was copied by Muggles playing Tennis, then Golf).

The six biggest tournaments in Quidditch are known as the Grand Slams. They are, in calendar order: