QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES
by Kennilworthy Whisp (And secretly by the Hogwarts students)

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Ok peoples! All you have to do is post in a little bit about Quidditch like:
-Brooms
-Fouls
-Players
-etc.

Ok, This book starts.... HERE!
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The Brooms
Shooting Star- Sometimes outstripped by passing butterflies.

Early Brooms

Oakshaft 79 ~ created in 1879 by Elias Grimstone. Very thick oaken handle, designed for endurance flying and to withstand high winds. attempts at quidditch broom never successful used for first ever atlanticbroom crossing, by Jocunda Sykes in 1935

Moontrimmer ~ created in 1901 by Gladys Boothby. slender ash handled broom. Can achieve greater heights than any broom before it. not enough in supply.

Invention of Golden Snitch

At first golden snidgets were used. The crowd used repelling charms to keep it from flying away. After the use of the snidget in quidditch was outlawed, fans and players began a frantic seach to find a bird to replace it. Bowman Wright, of Godric's Hollow, was a skilled metal crafter. He soon come up with the design of a golden ball that weighed the amount of a snidget, had revolving wings that made it lightning fast. Wright called his invention the Golden Snitch after the bird formerly used. This new Snitch allowed the game of Quidditch to truely take off.

The Chasers

Chaser is the oldest position in Quidditch. The sole goal of the three chasers on every team is to get the quaffle through one of the opposing team's three goal hoops. The chasers do this by passing the quaffle to one another as they speed down the pitch. Each goal scored, wins the chaser's team 10 points. The only change in the rules of chasing came about in 1884. The new rule stated that only the chaser in possession of the quaffle could enter the scoring area. If the rule was broken, the goal would be disallowed. The rule was introduced in an attempt to ban "stooging" for good. Stooging is a foul in which two chasers would enter the scoring area and ram the keeper, allowing the third chaser to score.

Ancient Broom Games

Shuntbumps
Was popular in Devon, England. This was a crude form of jousting, the sole aimbeing to knock as many other players as possible off their brooms, the last person remaining on their broom winning.

Swivenhodge
Began in Herefordshire. Involoved an inflated bladder, usually a pig's. Players sat backwards on their broom sand atted the bladder backwards across a hedge with the brush ends of their brooms. The first person to reach fifty points was the winner.
Swivenhodge is still played in England, though it had never achieved much widespread popularity; Shuntbumps survives only as a children's game.

The Beaters

It is believed that the position of beater has existed since the introduction of bludgers. Their duties have remained basically the same over the years. The main duty of a beater is to guard their team members from the bludgers. They do this with the aid of bats (beaters used clubs before the introduction of bats). When a beater hits a bludger away from his or her team mate, they usually direct it toward a member of the opposing team. Each team has only two beaters. There is no indication that beaters have ever been goal scorers or handled the quaffle for that matter. To be a beater, one must have considerable strength. It is for this reason, that the position is often taken by wizards instead of witches. Beaters also need a good sense of balance in case they ever have to make a two handed assault on a bludger.

Oakshaft 79

This was invented by Elias Brimstone in 1879 (hence the name). These were the days of the cottage industry, with each broomstick handmade by the inventor, and Elias' broom was the first model to make a name for itself. The Oakshaft was primarily designed as an endurance broom, favouring sturdy construction over manoeuvrability. It was therefore never much of a Quidditch broom, but it has its own claim to fame in that it was used by Jocunda Sykes for the first ever transatlantic broom crossing in 1935. It should be noted that a vast number of faster and newer brooms were on the market by this time, and her choice of the old Oakshaft 79 is a clear indication of its lasting appeal.



Moontrimmer

The Moontrimmer is a slim, ash-based broom which was designed in 1901 by Gladys Boothby. This was the first popular commercial Quidditch broom as it was far less cumbersome than the Oakshaft. It could reach great heights relatively easily, and remained controllable at altitude, which was rare at the time. Like the Oakshaft, however, each broom was hand-made by Gladys and demand outstripped supply by a distance, which effectively marked the start of the competitive marketplace.



Silver Arrow

A competitor to the Moontrimmer, this was much faster whilst remaining just as manoeuvrable. It was the first to reach the 70mph landmark, and like the Moontrimmer it was greatly in demand from Quidditch players. Again the product of a single designer, however, insufficient numbers could be created to meet demand.



Cleansweep Series

The brothers Bob, Bill and Barnaby Ollerton founded the Cleansweep Broom Company in 1926, and the Cleansweep One was their first model. This was the broomstick equivalent of the Ford Model T in the Muggle automotive world - it was the first broom to be mass-produced, and it was also the first to have its own specific advertising campaign to promote sales. The Cleansweep One was marketed as the first dedicated sports broom, and it was good enough to back up its claim. It cornered better than any of its forerunners, vital for Quidditch use, and before long it was the broom of choice for every Quidditch team in the country. The first broomstick that could be manufactured quickly enough for supply to meet demand, it instantly became the dominant product on the market.

Competition wasn't long in arriving, of course, and so the Ollerton brothers kept up the pressure with a series of new releases. The Cleansweep Two came in 1934, followed by the Cleansweep Three in 1937. Successive brooms up to the Cleansweep 11 kept them in competition at the top end of the market into the 1990s.



Comet Series

The Comet Trading Company was formed in 1929 by Randolph Keitch and Basil Horton, who were both professional Quidditch players with the Falmouth Falcons. This foray into the market was a direct response to the success of the Cleansweep One and the move towards mass-production. Horton and Keitch invented and patented their own Braking Charm to aid the handling of their broomsticks, with the result that their first offering, the Comet 140, quickly became a very popular Quidditch broom. A number of professional teams adopted it as their standard broomstick and the first trading war of the developing market began. Comet did not respond to the release of the Cleansweep Two in 1934, but followed the Cleansweep Three with their own Comet 180 in 1938. The Comet 260 followed much later, and was still considered to be a quality broomstick in the early 1990s.



Tinderblast

This broomstick marked the entry of Ellerby and Spudmore into the business in 1940. It is a solid and reliable broomstick, but lacks the performance of the Cleansweeps and Comets, and was therefore never a serious competitor in the sporting market.


Swiftstick

Released in 1952, this was the second product from Ellerby and Spudmore. It is faster than the Tinderblast but still lacks performance in ascent and again failed to ignite the serious Quidditch-playing market.


Shooting Star

In 1955 a new company, Universal Brooms Ltd, was formed. Its intention was to offer something that nobody else did - a budget broomstick that anybody could afford, but one that was still sprightly enough for sporting use. Their product, the Shooting Star, immediately found a niche in the market for itself and enjoyed a great deal of popularity. As time passed, however, the budget market faded as old second-hand Comets and Cleansweeps provided better performance at a similar price, and Universal went out of business in 1978. There are still a number of old Shooting Stars around, however: they are often used as a young wizard's first cheap broom as he learns to fly, and Hogwarts School uses them as its standard stock broom for flying practice.



Twigger 90

This broomstick represented a direct attempt by its manufacturers Flyte and Barker to wrest the market leadership away from Nimbus. It incorporated a number of features such as the Warning Whistle and the Self-Straightening Brush designed to attract serious fliers, but it was found to warp under speed and never got near achieving its aim. It has a healthy enough following, but usually amongst wizards with a lot of money who don't know a lot about broomsticks.



Nimbus Series

The end to the dominance of Cleansweep and Comet finally arrived in 1967, and when it came, it came quickly. It was then that the Nimbus Racing Broom Company announced their arrival with the revolutionary Nimbus 1000, and it took the wizarding world by storm. It broke the 100mph barrier, it could turn 360 degrees on the spot, and on top of this it handled beautifully and was as reliable as anything ever seen. It was inevitable that the entire professional Quidditch playing world immediately adopted it as their standard. Comet tried to keep up with its 260 model, and Cleansweep made successive releases up to the Cleansweep 11, but in truth they had lost their market. Nimbus successively released the 1001, 1500, 1700 and 2000, and finally in 1992 came their greatest achievement, the Nimbus 2001. No professional Quidditch team would be seen riding anything else.

Firebolt

This broomstick arrived in 1993 and finally provided a leap in the market the like of which hadn't been seen since the Nimbus 1000 in 1967. It is unclear at the moment who produces this broomstick, but as stated above, it is highly unlikely to be Nimbus. Therefore it can be assumed that the successor to the dominance of the Nimbus series has finally arrived, although who has supplied it will have to remain a mystery for now.

The Firebolt is a streamlined ash-based broomstick with a birch brush. It has pushed the speed boundary to the 150mph mark, with acceleration way ahead of its competitors, combined with remarkable balance and braking precision. It carries its own unbreakable braking charm and looks set to lead the market for some time to come. By the time of the 1994 World Cup, it was the standard broomstick of choice for national teams.



Non-Racing Brooms

Such is that lack of a market for non-sporting brooms only one is known - the Bluebottle. This is intended as a safe family broomstick, although details of its sales success (or lack of it) are unknown.

The Seeker

Seekers are most often the lightest and fastest fliers on a quidditch team. They are known for having sharp eyes and the ability to fly one or no handed while in pursuit of the snitch. There is only one seeker per team. The goal of the seeker is to chase and catch the golden snitch, winning his or her team 150 points and ending the game. Because of their importance, seekers often receive the worst injuries ("Take out the Seeker" is the first rule in Brutus Scrimgeour's The Beater's Bible.) There is no doubt a certain glamor associated with this position. Seekers are often considered the best fliers on the pitch and their position allows them to snatch victory for their teams even if victory seems hopeless.

Ten Common Fouls

Name - Applies to - Description
Blagging - all players - Seizing opponent's tail to slow or hinder
Blatching - all players - Flying with intent to collide
Blurting - all players - Locking broom handles with a view to steering opponent off course
Bumping - beaters only - Hitting Bludger towards crowd, necessitating a halt of the game as officials rush to protec bystanders. Sometimes used by unscrupulous players to prevent an opposing Chaser scoring
Cobbing - all players - Excessive use of elbows towards opponents
Flacking - keepers only - Sticking any portion of anatomy through goal hoop to punchQuaffle out. The keeper is supposed to block the goal hoop from the front rather than the rear.
Haversacking - Chaser only - Hand still on Quaffle as it goes through goal hoop (Quaffle must be thrown)
Quaflle-pocking - chasers only - Tampering with Quaflle, e.g. , puntering it so that it falls more quickly or zigzags
Snitchnip - all players but seeker - Any player other than seeker touching or catching the Golden Snitch
Stooging - chasers only - More than one chaser entering the scoring area

The Keeper

The position of keeper has existed since the thirteenth century, although it has seen changes since that time. When the position first came about, the keepers would often leave the hoops they were defending in order to score a goal. By 1620 the keeper's job had been simplified. Scoring areas had been introduced and keepers were advised to remain within the boundaries of these areas, defending their goal hoops, though they are allowed to leave the area in an attempt to inimidate opposing chasers or head them off early. Each quidditch team has only one chaser.

Quidditch Moves

Bludger Backbeat
A move by which the beater strikes the bludger with a backhanded club swing, sending it behind him or her rather than in front. Difficult to bring of with precision but excellent for confusing opponents.

Dopplebeater Defense
Both beaters hit a bludger at the same time for extra power, resulting in a bludger attack of greater serverity.

Double Eight Loop
A keeper defence, usually employed against penality takers, whereby the Keeper swerves around all three goal hoops at high speed to block the quaffle.

The Snitch

The Golden Snitch at one time was alive! It was a little bird, the Golden Snidget, which was round, yellow and very good at flying and evading enemies. In Quidditch, players would try to catch the bird with nets, clubs and their hands. The Snidget was often killed in the game. Angry wizards and witches lobbied against the use of a real bird in the game, and after of century of activism and the species' near extinction, the Snitch ball was introduced.

The Ages

The bulk of Quidditch Through The Ages discusses the evolution of the current playing field; responsibilities of each player; and rules and foul circumstances. There are 700 different fouls listed in the Department of Magical Sports and Games in the British Ministry of Magic. They have never all been released, even to wizards, Whisp writes, because of “the department’s view that witches and wizards who see the list ‘might get ideas.’"

Quidditch Moves

Hawkshead Attacking Formation
Chasers form an arrowhead pattern and fly together towards the goalposts. Highly intimidating the opposing teams and effective in forcing other players aside.

Parkin's Pincer
So named for the original members of the Wigtown Wanderers, who are reputed to have invented this move. Two chasers close in on an opposing chaser on either side, while the third headlong towards him or her.

Plumpton Pass
Seeker move: a seemingly careless swerve that scoops the Snitch up one's sleeve. Named after Roderick Plumpton, Tutshill Tornado Seeker, who employed the move in his famous record-breaking Snitch catch of 1921. Although some critics have alledged that this was an accident, Plumpton maintained until his death that he had meant to do it.