Yes that title does say Quidditch. That sport from the Harry Potter books has come off the page and into the real world. As today has an article about the 1st Annual Champagne Cup - a Quidditch tournament happening in Quogue - felt like it would be appropriate for my first post to be one describing the rules of this wacky, unique, and enthraling sport.
The very basic:
21 players/team with 7 active on the pitch at any one time
3 Chasers: wear white headbands, try to put the volleyball - called the quaffle - through one of their opponents three hoops. either side any hoop equates to 10 points.
2 Beaters: wear black headbands, use 3 kickballs - called bludgers - to peg anyone on the opposing team. If someone is hit they must drop a ball if they have one and touch his/her team's hoops to be back in play. Cannot interact with the quaffle.
1 Keeper: wears a green headband, defends his/her team's hoops from the opposing side. Is able to also score. When with a zone that starts 6yd in front of the hoops and goes infinately backwards cannot be tackled or have ball taken from them when they have sole possession nor be affected by bludgers.
1 Seeker: wears a yellow/gold headband, goal is to find and capture the snitch thus ending the game and awarding their team 30 points.
The snitch: in Muggle Quidditch the snitch is a person - usually a cross country runner and/or wrestler - that wears a yellow shirt and has a tennis ball in a sock that's tucked into the back of his/her shorts. At the start of the game (s)he hides so none of the players know where the snitch is. The snitch runner is allowed to do anything within reason to avoid capture and as such provides a lot of entertainment value for the spectators.
Contact: players - except for seekers - are allowed to do one-armed tackles against players that use the same ball as them and are in possession of said ball. Otherwise players are allowed to run through opponents moving with the intention of gaining possession. NO contact with the head, neck, groin areas. Nor are players allowed to grab brooms or clothing.
Thanks for the post, great explaination of the game for those who have not been to Hogwarts.