Team Ireland to compete at the European Quidditch Games this weekend

Inspired by the Harry Potter series, quidditch has now evolved into a competitive sport played by thousands of players worldwide.

Ireland fly to Oslo, Norway to compete in the European Quidditch Games between 7th-9th July.

This is the second time they've been involved in the tournament.

This year they are taking a full squad of 21 players to compete. The team consists mainly of quidditch players from clubs in Belfast and Dublin. The team hopes to improve on last year’s results and bring home new skills and insights to help the sport develop in Ireland.

Quidditch was adapted from the Harry Potter novels almost twelve years ago in the US. It combines elements of rugby and dodgeball to create a fast paced, full contact, co-ed sport. It has proved to be a popular game for athletes and Potter enthusiasts alike and has grown enormously in the past few years. There are now teams on every continent as well as many countries hosting annual club championships for their top teams. To compete, teams must have a mix of genders on pitch at all times. The sport aims to be as inclusive as possible and to encourage more women in sport and increase awareness of non-binary genders.

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 end