Quidditch is the most popular sport of the wizarding world. Everyone of the magic world knows quidditch, talks of Quidditch, thinks of quidditch, and of course play Quidditch. The game of Quidditch had a long long history, and had become the official sport of most countries of the wizarding world. The Quidditch World Cup which takes place every four years is an event which everyone looks forward to. It is an international competition between the national teams. Now, without further ado, we'll proceed to what the Game of Quidditch really is.

     Quidditch is a team sport consisting of two opposing teams, seven players each, competing against each other. The entire game of Quidditch is played on Broomsticks, the magical device that can fly. Each Player rides one broomstick and plays the game in air. In other words, the game of Quidditch is and aerial sport.

     A Quidditch pitch is about twice as big as a standard soccer field. The pitch ground is filled with soft soil and sand to reduce the impact an accidental fall may cause. There is a middle line that divides the ground into two equal halves, side lines that mark the boundaries of the playing area, the keeper box that limits keeper movements. At either ends of the pitch, there are three huge fifty feet high hoops normally made from bronze, standing on tall poles. A total of six hoops or goal hoops are in each pitch.

GAMES AND RULES

     There are total of four balls in the game of Quidditch. One bright red ball the size of a football is called the Quaffle. Three players from each team play with this ball. They are called the chasers. The chasers throws the quaffle to each other and try to get it thorough one of the fifty feet high hoops, while the opposing team tries to block them and steal the quaffle. Each time a quaffle successfully passes through a hoop, the thrower's team gets ten point.

       One player from each team it the keeper. The keeper¨s job is to fly around the hoops and stop the other team from scoring.

      Next are two identical jet black balls, slightly smaller than the quaffle, called Bludgers. These two balls, powered on magic, are constantly zig-zagging and pelting around in the air on their own, trying to knock the players off their brooms. Two Beaters from each team hold small wooden clubs. They beat the bludgers off course, and try to use the bludgers to knock opposing team members off their brooms, and try to protect their own team from bludgers.

      Now, six players and three balls down, only one player and one ball are left to be introduced. The remaining ball is a tiny golden ball the size of a walnut with tiny fluttering silver wings, called The Golden Snitch. This ball flies at random anywhere in the pitch, and is very difficult to see. The remaining player is called the seeker. The seeker's business is to try and catch that tiny little golden snitch.

      As the game of Quidditch has no time limits, it only ends whence the golden snitch has been caught. The catching of the golden snitch wins the team a hundred and fifty points, and almost always makes the team win.

     Quidditch is in fact an easy sport to play. The tutorials are easy. The key is to fly well. Just grasp the broom firmly, and kick off the ground hard, and you are already up in the air. As long as you do not make any fouls such as purposely butting others or trying to knock others off the brooms unless you are a beater; or getting outside the keeper box's boundaries if you are a keeper; or touching the Quaffle if you are a seeker.

     The degree of fever a wizard or a witch has for Quidditch is equivalent to the degree of fever muggles have for soccer. Like the muggle soccer, there are innumerable clubs and teams for Quidditch around the world, and various competitions are there for Quidditch.

   The QCs (Quidditch Clubs) are present in almost every wizarding country. According to the 2006 statistics, Britain has the most number of
Quidditch clubs in the entire world, which includes some of the most famous clubs in the world, namely the Wimbourne Wasps, Tutshill tornadoes, Puddlemere United, And Chudley Cannons.

     Various competitions were started for contests between clubs. The National League for competition between national clubs. The most famous global inter-club completion is the UWQA, or the United World Quidditch Association. It takes place once every eight years. This competition started since 1870. The first winner of this competition was the renown Japanese Club, The Hokkaido Sakura. The competition between nations is the Quidditch world cup, initiated by Rowena Ravenclaw. The world cup committee was publicized and enlarged by Martino Broccoli. The world cup is the highest glory and honour a Quidditch nation, team, player would expect to achieve. The country with the most World Cup titles is Venezuela, the 'highland flyers', with fifteen cups, whilst the second is Russia, with nine cups.

     The origins of the game of Quidditch could be chased back to as old as the prehistoric era. It was first played by the weird sisters (olden name for witches) of Scotland. They rod on broomsticks and flying carpets etc, and tossed about dragon livers, toad hearts, cow eyes etc, and tried to throw them on bodies of people they caught, killed and pinned high on trees by the weird sisters to score. The weird sisters often throw pebbles at each other to unseat the opponents from their brooms. Te game was called Kuirdal-Lohlich, or 'flying insides', which means the insides or guts of animals, when thrown looks like they were flying.

     At the time of Merlin the Old, he changed the game, under orders from king Arthur, to a more civilized manner. He banned the using of dead corpse as the aim or goal, and changed it to large circles conjured magically. But still, there weren;t much rules at that time, and quidditch was was still a rather uncivilized game.

     It wasn't until the time of the Four Founders when modern Quidditch was born. It was Rowena Ravenclaw the Wise who devised the completely modern ways and rules of Quidditch. She changed the name from Kuirdal-Lohlich to Quidditch, meaning 'Four balls'.

   Twenty years after Ravenclaw's Quidditch revolutionary alteration, the game was widely accepted by all, and the Quidditch World Cup Committee first started. It was from then on that the once every four years Quidditch world cup started. The first world cup took place in Scotland, commemorating the birth of this sport. The winner of the first cup was Scotland herself, and the first cup was honorably bequeathed to the winner by Ravenclaw herself. At that time, she had retired form the post as one of the four headmasters of Hogwarts. The sport of Quidditch was thus started.

  (Most parts are unreal and made up by the author. By Li Hong Yi)

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