Quidditch is dead, long live…quadball. The International Quidditch Association (IQA) announced on Tuesday that the sport of wizarding universeHarry Potter, whose practice has been booming among “muggles” for a few years, officially changes its name to quadball, among other things to distance itself from the comments of the author of the series, JK Rowling. The news sparked strong reactions.
“LGBTQ+ rights groups like GLAAD and Human Rights Campaign, as well as the three main cast members of the film series Harry Potter had criticized JK Rowling’s positions, the association said in a statement on Tuesday. She also cites legal reasons for the name change, since commercial use of the term “quidditch” remains controlled by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., the production company for the film series Harry Potter.
JK Rowling, the author of the book series who is very active on social media, has been in hot water since 2020 for a series of tweets and statements deemed transphobic.
Criticism of her ignited when she publicly showed her support for Maya Forstater, a British researcher who says she was fired after claiming no one could ‘change her biological sex’ and dragged the case to court. courts. He has also been criticized for his opposition to Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, a law making it easier for transgender Scottish people to change their marital status.
On social media, LGBTQ+ people from the sporting world seemed happy about the sport’s name change.
Good for them. I was so impressed by the thoughtfulness and care of the @usquadball folks I did a story on last year — it takes both boldness and humility to rethink stuff that seems foundational to your sport when it isn’t serving your community anymore: https://t.co/FgPyIMfaQR
— Mags?? (@magscolv) July 20, 2022
And the IQA welcomed this change.
The IQA will be joining US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch in changing the name of the sport from “quidditch” to “quadball” on a worldwide basis. pic.twitter.com/8ydGtPN730
— International Quidditch Association (@IQAsport) July 19, 2022
On the other hand, many seemed unhappy with the announcement, finding it “crazy” or “unbelievable”.
A society in which@jk_rowlingis some kind of hate figure is one that has turned quite mad. https://t.co/NJ8Jd1W9Rr
— Paul Embery (@PaulEmbery) July 20, 2022
Implausible. ? https://t.co/tr28i1h8fb
— Gaspard Skoda ??⚜️???️?? (@Gaspard_Skoda) July 21, 2022
Quadball is now played by “nearly 600 teams in 40 countries”, according to the IQA. The sport is said to have been launched in 2005 after a Vermont university team passionate about the world of the round-spectacled wizard established the rules for the first time. It is notably practiced with plastic brooms between the legs, and balls of different sizes, as imagined by JK Rowling.
In Canada, the largest league that governs the practice of the sport, Major League Quadball, has also changed its name. It is made up of 16 teams representing cities in the United States and Canada, including two in Canada, in Toronto and Ottawa.