Straight out of the world of Harry Potter, Quidditch has conquered nearly forty countries, but this sporty UFO rides on a wand seeks to free itself from the famous wizard to become a discipline in its own right. American students made a version for “Muggles” (non-wizards) were subject to gravity, mixing aspects of handball and rugby, with school sports.

In the novels by JK Rowling, K Players quidditch Swirl around on your broomstick to throw the “Cuffle” through the rings, avoid the “Blooders” and catch the “Golden Snitch” to end the match. Gradually, discipline has been codified and structured within national associations and official championships, such as the disputed French Cup in Angers (Main-et-Loire) last weekend.

Some discovered the game during university exchanges abroad, others at the gathering of Harry Potter fans, still others stumbled upon training in a park…, the first followers of the wizard’s hat and The hats have all but disappeared, as well as a reference to the magic world on the jersey.

,We come for Harry Potter, we stay for the game“, says 38-year-old Cédric Chillon, coach of the France team. This former hand player, who plays with the Paris Frogs, thus admires the physical side, the good-natured atmosphere and the complexity of the strategies. But the magician’s vocabulary sweeps Kind of remained in the form of plastic sticks.

a little funny? Not at all, assures Tifaine Pascureau, 32, the federation’s communications officer and vice president of the elephants of Nantes, who arrived in Quidditch after 15 years of judo. ,This is not to pretend to steal. It’s a handicap, just like you have to dribble to move forward in handball or backward in rugby. Forced you to handle balls with one hand, to deal with one hand…“, she explains.

From the edge of the field, she harasses her team: “Fabian, clef priority. Lord, you protect your tip!“Like the instructions, the game can seem confusing at first. In addition, no fewer than five referees and two assistants ensure that the rules are respected. On each team, four chasers quaff (a volleyball) in the opposing rings. ). .

For lack of a small golden ball with delicate feathers like in the movies, the snitch is a tennis ball placed in a sock and attached to the shorts of a neutral runner dressed in all yellow. The movements are fast, the race is steady, the tremors are sometimes harsh, the changes are frequent. Specification of the game: Teams must be mixed with up to four players of the same gender at the same time.

Still confidential in France, with 200 to 300 followers within a dozen active teams, the practice is booming in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany… to the point where the naming changes in the United States. is being studied. , to be able to continue development without passing to Warner, the holder of the rights to the Harry Potter universe.

This development would also have to do with the creation of teams of young people, so as not to let the discipline die out as a generation fed on the Harry Potter ages. Meanwhile, after a two-year halt due to Covid, Cedric Chillan is refining his selection for the European Championships held in Ireland in late July. The stakes are real: winners in 2019, France, have a title to defend.