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Quidditch, or Muggle Quidditch as it’s also known, is the sport adapted from the fictional world of Harry Potter, and which recently held their 2016 World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany.
This year’s tournament saw 21 countries from five continents compete for the biggest prize Quidditch has to offer.
Originally started in an American college the sport has spread, and now attracts not just fans of the popular series, though the team names are often derived from magical creatures from the series.
Quidditch manages to be both a simple and complex game at the same time. Fans of the Harry Potter series will understand the basics of the game, ten points for a goal or hoop, and the game only ends when the snitch is caught, worth only 30 points as opposed to 150 in the original format of the game. Like the original, there are three types of balls, the Quaffle, the Bludgers and the Snitch. For those not familiar with the original, the Quaffle is the ball used to score. The Bludgers are used to unseat players from their brooms.
The Golden Snitch is the final ball, and the hardest to catch in both adaptations of the game.
Teams are made up of one Keeper, who protects the hoops, three Chasers, who score, two Beaters, who use the Bludgers to attack opposing players and a Seeker, whose sole role is to catch the snitch.
Just like in the original, players are all seated on brooms. However, instead of riding on a Firebolt or a Nimbus 2000, the players straddle a variety of broomsticks, which must remain between their legs during live play. It’s also important to note that Quidditch is a full-contact sport, with tackling similar to that found in rugby and American football. It’s also a mixed sport with some of the most progressive gender identity policies in the sporting world.
The World Cup tournament consisted on two days of tournament games preceded by two days of Pre-Tournament exhibition matches, tutorial sessions and plenty of time for the players of the different countries to get to know each other.
While many of the Europeans are familiar with each other, having played in the various continental tournaments played across Europe, teams from Australia, Brazil and South Korea draw the most intrigue. While the Australia team is widely recognised, ranked as one of the best sides in the world, the South Koreans and the Brazilians are both new to the World Cup, but are welcomed with open arms by the friendly International Quidditch Community.
The Australian team, called the Drop Bears, is friendly and intimidating in equal measures. Many wouldn’t look out of place in other professional sporting teams. The Australian’s played the hosts Germany in an exhibition game before the tournament started, and displayed why they had the tag as one of the tournament favourites.
Having finished in a podium position the last two iterations of the World Cup, finishing second last time around, having lost the finals to the US, who have won both previous World Cups. The US were once again the favourites, having won both the first two World Cups and have been undefeated in both previous versions of the tournament.
This year’s grand final saw a rematch between Australia and Team USA. However, in a historic finish Team Australia took the game 150-130 to win the gold for the first time and to inflict Team USA with their first ever loss at the World Cup.
Here’s a full replay of the final:
Vision of the Australia team celebrating can also be found here.
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