Have you ever wondered what the fictional Harry Potter game of Quidditch would look like in real life? Well, wonder no more.
Team Ireland has just come home from the Quidditch World Cup Championship finishing up 21st out of 29 teams
Team USA won against Belgium with 120 points to 70 in the final.
The tournament held in Florence, Italy - over the course of four days - consisted of teams representing 29 countries all fighting to be crowned Quidditch champions.
The championship marked Ireland's second only appearance at the games.
How does one play Quidditch?
A quidditch team consists of 21 athletes with seven players per team on the field at any one time, with each player having 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 the pitch at one time. This ensures that the game is mixed gender and inclusive to all.
Claire Purslow Photography.
Players can be one of four positions:
Keepers - Guard the hoops against opposing chasers and become the fourth chaser on offence.
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.
Harry Potter himself played the position of Seeker.
A team of seven will have one keeper, three chasers, two beaters and one 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 are thrown at other players by beaters. There are three 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 ends
One can only hope that us muggles will be able to master the game in no time.
