Quidditch name change: Rules and all you need to know about the new Quadball

Quidditch, a campus sport that originated from the popular fictional game in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, has now officially changed its name to Quadball .

The news about the name change first came to light in December 2021 when the US Quidditch (USQ) and Major League Quidditch (MLQ) announced that they were considering the move as they lost “sponsorship and broadcast opportunities” for the sport for its association with Warner Bros.

As the producer of the Harry Potter film franchise, Warner Bros. owns the copyright to the original name of the sport. Earlier this week, the International Quidditch Association (IQA) also cited Harry Potter author JK Rowling’s alleged “anti-trans positions” as a reason behind the change.

“As a community, we want our sport to be inclusive of people of different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, ages, languages, genders, sexual orientations. A key demonstration of this is the Gender Rule in Quidditch, whereby players are able to play as the gender that they identify, as including non-binary genders.”

IQA Board of Trustees chair Chris Lau acknowledged the decision in a statement and said:

“This is an important moment in our sport’s history, and I personally am thrilled to be a part of it. I would also like to thank USQ and MLQ for working to make this happen.”

Jack McGovern, a spokesperson for USQ and MLQ, echoed similar statements while speaking to The New York Times:

“We’ve tried to be clear that it’s both reasons. We did not intend to give a value judgment about which reason was more important than the other.”

The spokesperson also mentioned that Rowling’s association with the sport has made it difficult for authorities to recruit new players. Mary Kimball, executive director of US Quadball, also addressed the name in an official statement:

“In less than 20 years, our sport has grown from a few dozen college students in rural Vermont to a global phenomenon with thousands of players, semi-pro leagues and international championships. Our organizations are committed to continuing to push quadball forward.”

In addition to the name of the sport, Major League Quidditch and US Quidditch have also rebranded as Major League Quadball and US Quadball from here on. Reports suggest that the IQA will also consider a name change in the near future.

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Will Quadball follow the same game rules as Quidditch?

Quadball will continue to follow similar rules as the original game until further notice (Image via Getty Images)

As per official reports, the rebranded name of Quadball refers to the four balls required on the field during the game and the four different player positions. The name also signifies that the game will continue to maintain the rules it followed under the name of Quidditch.

The sport was first introduced at Vermont’s Middlebury College in 2005, combining elements of dodgeball, rugby and lacrosse.

The arena for Quadball consists of three hoops at two ends of the field and similar to the world of Harry Potter, a team requires three chasers, one keeper, two beaters, and one seeker to proceed with the game.

The chasers reportedly use the quaffle (volleyball) to score points by putting the ball into the hoops or by running and passing the ball to their teammates. The hoops are guarded by the keeper, who acts as the fourth chaser, and the bludgers (dodgeballs) are used by beaters to block or move players out of their way.

Beaters are also allowed to throw the dodgeballs towards the opposite team in order to “knock out” their opponents. Meanwhile, the seeker is tasked with the responsibility of catching the snitch. In the case of a real-life campus game, a neutral individual with a yellow Velcro trail attached to their waist is considered a snitch.

The game comes to an end when the seeker manages to catch a snitch and scores 30 points for their team. If the score is tied after catching the snitch, an overtime game is arranged for declaring a winner.

The game also follows the “four maximum” rule, which does not allow more than four players of the same gender to be on the field at the same time. However, the number increases to five once the seekers are released.

As per authorities, Quadball currently has nearly 600 teams across 40 countries. It is reportedly played in more than 100 colleges in the United States.

Although the rules of Quadball and the name of the balls and positions is currently similar to Quidditch, NPR reported that MLQ has said both can be changed at a later date.