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Quidditch is now quadball, distancing the game from controversial author J.K. Rowling, league says

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A sport invented by British author J.K. Rowling in her hugely popular Harry Potter series — which features witches and wizards flying on broomsticks trying to score goals — is rebranding.
The fictional game has been a real-life sensation among muggles for more than a decade and is played as a fast-paced, mixed-gender contact sport across the world.
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As part of an effort to distance the sport from its creator, who has sparked controversy for her views on transgender issues, the International Quidditch Association (IQA) announced that the sport will now be known as quadball.
“This is an important moment in our sport’s history,” said Chris Lau, chair of the IQA board of trustees, in a statement. “We are confident in this step and we look forward to all the new opportunities quadball will bring.”
The global body said one of the main reasons for the name change was that Rowling “has increasingly come under scrutiny for her anti-trans positions.” It listed LGBTQ advocacy groups that had criticized the writer, as well as lead actors who appeared in the hugely popular Harry Potter movies and who were also critical of her views.
The IQA said a second reason for the name change was trademarks and licensing. The trademark for “quidditch” is owned by the Warner Bros. entertainment company, and organizers want to use the quadball trademark to continue to grow the game “into a mainstay of organized sports.”
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Rowling, 56, fueled a social media storm after she shared her opinions on Twitter and later penned a lengthy personal essay on transgender issues, prompting many in the LGBTQ community to accuse her of transphobia. Rowling has said that she supports trans rights and has been a long-standing donor to LGBTQ charities but that she does not believe in “erasing” the concept of biological sex.
She has not publicly commented on the name change, but earlier this month she tweeted: “Like many women on the left, I despair that so many self-proclaimed liberals turn a blind eye to the naked misogyny of the gender identity movement and the threat it poses to the rights of women and girls.” Rowling, who could not immediately be reached for comment early Wednesday, added: “I believe women are susceptible to certain harms and have specific needs and that feminism is necessary to secure and protect our rights.”
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Actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who played the trio of best friends Harry, Hermione and Ron, respectively, on the fabled Hogwarts school set, have all publicly distanced themselves from Rowling’s comments and said they stand with the trans community.
The proposal to change the sport’s name was first made in March, and thousands of players across the globe were polled on the new name, the IQA said, before they settled on quadball — which refers to both the number of balls and the number of positions used in the sport.

Quidditch soared off the page and was adapted for the real-life pitch in 2005, when it was first played at Middlebury College in Vermont. The rules became gradually codified, and the sport took off in 2007.
It now boasts nearly 600 teams in 40 countries, the IQA said, and is often broadcast on television and online.
Seven players on each team — among them chasers, beaters and a seeker (Harry Potter’s own position) — attempt to score the quaffle ball through opposition hoops. Instead of flying, the players run with ersatz broomsticks positioned between their legs as they jostle, catch, defend and tackle to score points and win.
“The broom adds a layer of skill and complexity to the sport, through a handicap which works the same way you must pass a ball backwards in rugby, or can only kick the ball” in soccer, according to QuidditchUK, the sport’s governing body in Britain.
The sport is “unique as the only full-contact, mixed-gender sport in the world, especially to those who identify with the trans or non-binary communities,” QuidditchUK says on its website. “We celebrate that inclusion of those from the LGBTQ+ communities, and greatly encourage anyone from any background to take part in our sport.”

Major League Quidditch, a league in the United States and Canada, and U.S. Quidditch, the sport’s U.S. governing body, are also parties to the name change.
“Quadball isn’t just a new name, it’s a symbol for a future for the sport without limitations,” Major League Quidditch founders wrote in a letter posted online Tuesday. “With it, we hope to turn the sport into exactly what it aspires to be: something for all.”
Major League Quidditch said it “did not make this name-change lightly” and expects to revamp franchises by the fall and continue with brand changes before the end of the year. Changing the sport’s name “opens unprecedented opportunities for growth, exposure and partnerships,” the group added.
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In Britain, QuidditchUK said it fully supports the rebranding, calling it a “great moment in the development of our sport.”
“The name change indicates a firm stance with our trans players and members, as well as giving us more firm legal footing and opening up greater opportunities for funding and external partners,” it said on its website. The quidditch rebrand will continue this year, and players should also expect the names of the balls to be amended as part of the overhaul. The name of the snitch — a magical golden ball in the books, and a role played by a person in the game — will also be changed.
Rowling’s Harry Potter books first published in 1997 have become a bedtime staple for many children and a global phenomenon, with movies, theme parks and merchandise.
The stories follow the orphaned wizard Harry as he seeks to save the magical world from nemesis Voldemort, alongside his classmates. The hugely popular books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 80 languages.
The next international quidditch tournament will take place this weekend in Limerick, Ireland, the IQA said, with teams from Europe, Australia and Hong Kong taking part.

 
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So many questions
 
Rowling has said that she supports trans rights and has been a long-standing donor to LGBTQ charities but that she does not believe in “erasing” the concept of biological sex.

The horror. . .the hatred. :rolleyes:
It used to be that we were arguing over whether or not you could have a gay scout leader, whether or not gays could marry.

Now it's stuff like this and trans women in swimming competition.

That's what you call progress.
 
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It used to be that we were arguing over whether or not you could have a gay scout leader, whether or not gays could marry.

Now it's stuff like this and trans women in swimming competition.

That's what you call progress.

Pretty sad that a crap ton of people who made loads off her stories and even more people who love her stories are completely disowning her as a person . . . not because she killed someone, not because she abused someone, but because she believes that biological sex matters.
 
This'll do just as good as canceling Aunt Jemima did for racism. Lol
 
I don't care about JKR, but I'd pay good money to wipe Quidditch from the face of the earth. The worst thing about college tours with aardvark jr a few years back was how every ****ing school (i) insisted that "their" library was the one that the Hogwarts library was really modeled after, (ii) had a freshman seminar something along the lines of "Witches, Wizards, Muggles, and Magical Creatures: Hierarchy and Hegemony in Harry Potter,” and (iii) touted their intramural Quidditch program.
 
Distancing themselves even further from reality. More anti-women behavior from the usual suspects.
 
We need more and not less cancel culture as far as Harry Potter is concerned. Not because of Rowling, but because there are too many 30 year olds who think of Harry Potter as their favorite literature.
Hmmmm. when Potter books became popular with kids in the USA, Evangelicals said in horror "Don't let them read those, it's about witches!!!"
 
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We need more and not less cancel culture as far as Harry Potter is concerned. Not because of Rowling, but because there are too many 30 year olds who think of Harry Potter as their favorite literature.
and films. But only because its the truth. Sorry you're too old to appreciate.
 
and films. But only because its the truth. Sorry you're too old to appreciate.

I stopped caring after the last book came out and I read it. There was no social currency available to Harry Potter fans at the time. And homophobia was still cool, so if you liked Harry Potter and admitted it, there was a decent chance you would get called a homophobic slur.
 
The IQA said a second reason for the name change was trademarks and licensing. The trademark for “quidditch” is owned by the Warner Bros. entertainment company
So . . . which is the real reason. Trademark issues or JKR's alleged transphobia.

Personally, I don't understand why JKR has gotten so much shit for her stance.
 
We need more and not less cancel culture as far as Harry Potter is concerned. Not because of Rowling, but because there are too many 30 year olds who think of Harry Potter as their favorite literature.
Yeah, but their idea of literature before Harry Potter was texting.

Not really kidding. JKR made reading popular again.

Hero.
 
I stopped caring after the last book came out and I read it. There was no social currency available to Harry Potter fans at the time. And homophobia was still cool, so if you liked Harry Potter and admitted it, there was a decent chance you would get called a homophobic slur.
I was down with the gays long before Obama and the Clintons. I was simply calling Harry Potter fans "Dork!"

Funny how a fantasy author has been pilloried by nerds who can't discern between fantasy and reality.
 
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