WHATSOC? Quidditch!

Yes, you heard us correctly. QUIDDITCH has come to Southampton! We caught up with the team members of this brand spanking new society, who are currently trying for SUSU affiliation.

So, run us through the rules…

Katie Weaver: ‘It’s 7 a side game and there are the same positions as those in the books: 3 chasers (who pass around the quaffle and try and score through the hoops to earn 10 points), 2 beaters (throw bludgers at opposing players and if a player is hit by a bludger they have to dismount their brooms, run back to their goal and tap back in to resume playing), 1 keeper (guards the goal) and 1 seeker (tries to catch the golden snitch). The snitch is a person dressed in yellow with a sock and tennis ball attached to his trousers – when the seeker manages to get the snitch the game ends and that team get 30 points’.

‘The snitch is a person dressed in yellow with a sock and tennis ball attached to his trousers’

Sounds like fun! But do you actually ride broomsticks?!

Team captain Sarah Dorricott: ‘Of course we ride broomsticks, it wouldn’t be Quidditch without it! But the game has been adapted to be played on the ground’

Robbie Young, who played for the UK team in the British summer games last year, added: ‘Yes, the broom is intimately tied into the rules of the game. We can’t buy proper gear, so we just use plastic poles as brooms. But essentially you need to keep it between your legs at all times because if you ‘come off your broom’ you need to run back to your goals and tap back in to resume playing. This happens a lot and gets very tiring!’

Where did the idea come from?

Robbie: ‘The game was adapted from the Harry Potter books into a real sport in 2005 by Middlebury College in the United States and today has hundreds of teams worldwide, although most are still in the States.  Also, there was even a world cup which happened last weekend in America, but the UK didn’t have a team there’

Why did you all decide to become involved?

Robbie: ‘My old university had a team, when I first heard about it I didn’t really take it seriously but after seeing it being played and how intense it was I realised it was the sport for me’

Katie: ‘I think for most of us when we saw it being advertised over Facebook, it was too fascinating not to turn up and see what it was all about and how it worked! Plus who doesn’t love Harry Potter?! Once we played for the first time, we got hooked- it’s just such a fun game!’

Ben Kneebone: ‘Because I thought I’d meet Emma Watson!’

So what’s the best thing about playing Quidditch?

Sarah: ‘The fact that it’s full contact and you don’t have to be a nerd to enjoy it (but it helps!)’

Robbie: ‘For me, the best things are travelling around playing at different universities, meeting new people, the glory of winning games and of course, playing the fine sport of Quidditch’

Katie: ‘It definitely is a good way of keeping fit, it’s pretty hard core!! As someone who’s never really done or been interested in organised sport, it’s fun to be part of a team and also to let my geeky side come out twice a week!’

Helen Genders: ‘The fact that I have fun while playing sport! I never thought I’d see the day…!’

So are you all put into ‘houses’ like in the books?

Katie: ‘Houses aren’t really anything to do with Quidditch, although most of the team knows which house they are in through the fan website Pottermore. But you don’t have to be a HP fan to play Quidditch! A couple of the players haven’t read the books or seen the films, they just enjoy the sport!’

Ollie Craig adds: ‘I’m a HUFFLEPUFF Bitch! So don’t go messing with me’ (ed: we won’t, Ollie…)

Soton Tab or Wessex Scene?

All: Soton Tab, obviously.

Southampton Quidditch team will be playing against the University of Reading on May 11^th– the first ever Quidditch match to be played in Hampshire! Meanwhile, if you think you can catch the snitch, visit the team’s Facebook group here.