The London Monarchs and Southeast Knights are among the first teams to be entered into the Quidditch Premier League.
After many years of strong growth within the quidditch community, the Quidditch Premier League (QPL) has been established to create a new tournament structure for the best players in the UK. Eight teams from Hadrian’s Wall to the Cliffs of Dover will compete against one another to gain the title of national champions in quidditch. The teams will be open to any player in the UK.
Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, quidditch has developed into its own sport, with 20,000 competing international players, 25 competing countries, and an international rulebook. A quidditch team consists of 21 athletes with 7 players per team on the field at any one time. Each player has a broom between their legs. The four maximum rule of quidditch states that at most there can be four players of the same gender on pitch at one time. This ensures that the game is mixed gender and inclusive to all. Quidditch has also been labelled as the ‘world’s most progressive sport’ by VICE for the same reason.
“The Quidditch Premier League is such an exciting opportunity and development,” Director Jack Lennard said. “It’s an opportunity for the sport to grow and gain prestige on a greater level nationally and internationally than ever before. It’s an opportunity for players to compete at the highest level. And, most importantly, it’s an opportunity for more people in more places to find out about this incredible sport. I can’t wait to see where the QPL can take the sport in the UK.”
In recent years the sport has seen more acceptance across the country as more and more players are becoming aware of the sport. ‘It’s been fun promoting quidditch throughout the UK, and showing people how it is being treated seriously by a vibrant and wonderful community,’ said Thomas Ffiske, PR & Communications Director. ‘We’ve seen some fantastic progress over the last few years, and we are pushing hard to continue our expansion across the world. But ultimately, it’s the enthusiasm and collaboration of the quidditch community which helped it grow so much, and we hope to serve its members through the establishment of the Quidditch Premier League.’
How does quidditch work?
A quidditch team consists of 21 athletes with 7 players per team on the field at any one time. Each player has a broom between their legs. The four maximum rule of quidditch states that at most there can be four players of the same gender on pitch at one time. This ensures that the game is mixed gender and inclusive to all.
Players can be one of four positions:
· Keepers – Guard the hoops from opposing chasers and become a 4th chaser on offense.
· Chasers – Throw the quaffle through the opposite team’s hoops to score goals worth 10 points.
· Beaters -Throw bludgers at the opposing team to ‘knock them out’ and make them return to hoops.
· Seekers – Catch the snitch (worth 30 points) to end the game.
A team of 7 will have 1 Keeper, 3 Chasers, 2 Beaters and 1 Seeker. A game of quidditch involves three types of balls:
· The Quaffle – a semi-deflated volleyball thrown through the hoops by chasers and keepers.
· Bludgers – dodgeballs thrown at other players by beaters. There are 3 bludgers on the pitch.
· The Snitch – a sock with a tennis ball in it, attached to the snitch runner’s shorts. When caught by either team’s seeker, the game ends
The following teams will be part of the league:
· The London Monarchs
· The Southwest Broadside
· The Southeast Knights
· The Eastern Mermaids
· The Northern Watch
· The Yorkshire Roses
· The East Midland Archers
· The West Midland Shredders