In July 2022 Quidditch — the nationally recognized sport created by Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling — became Quadball. Nothing about how the sport is played changed, but leading Quidditch organizations, including Major League Quadball and U.S. Quadball, chose to rename their sport to sever the connection with Rowling. The change came after Rowling received backlash for the multiple harmful tweets and statements she has made regarding the transgender community since 2020.
Quadball is a mixed-gender contact sport inspired by the fictional game of Quidditch originally created by Rowling as a part of the Harry Potter series. Since its invention in 2005, the sport expanded with the creation of Major League Quadball, the US Quadball League, and the University’s very own Michigan Quadball Team.
Michigan Quadball is a student organization with over 30 members who compete at tournaments across the country throughout the academic year. Until Nov. 13, the organization referred to itself as Michigan Quidditch, but decided to follow in the footsteps of the national Quadball organizations by formally changing its name to Michigan Quadball.
Backlash against Rowling started when the author posted a series of tweets in June and July 2020 expressing her negative opinions about the trans community, as well as her proud self-identification as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Additionally, Rowling wrote and published the book “Troubled Blood” under a male pseudonym which includes transphobic messaging.
When Harry Potter fans expressed their disappointment online, stars from the Harry Potter movies including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson shared their support for the trans community and publicly denounced Rowling’s statements. Other stars, including Helena Bonham-Carter, defended Rowling, stating that she is entitled to her opinions.
LSA senior Reina Brodeur, a Michigan Quadball player, told The Michigan Daily she believes distancing the sport from Rowling has helped solidify the University’s team as a safe space for people of all gender identities.
“Because so much of the (Quadball) community also has a gender-queer identity, it makes it a very safe space for people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community to be a part of a community with others who have maybe had similar life experiences,” Brodeur said.
Brodeur said the sport promotes gender inclusivity by requiring in the rulebook for teams to have players with varying gender identities on the pitch at all times during play.
“Quadball is a sport that really encourages a diverse community with different gender identities and actively encourages diversity in who can play,” Brodeur said. “Having a name change to distance ourselves from J.K. Rowling … is definitely beneficial for (players) who are trans or gender non-conforming.”
LSA sophomore Daniel Silva told The Daily he joined the Michigan Quadball Team his freshman year after seeing their table at Festifall. Since many people were originally drawn to Quidditch because of its connection to Harry Potter, Silva said he was concerned about recruiting new members this year due to the new name for the sport.
“When we try to promote Quadball, we can’t really say it’s Quidditch anymore,” Silva said. “But it’s like, how are people supposed to know what it is?”
Kinesiology junior Julien Theuerkauf was also introduced to Quadball after seeing the team’s table at Festifall and started playing in September 2022. Theuerkauf told The Daily he was drawn to the sport because of its connection to the Harry Potter universe.
“I decided to start (playing) because they advertised it as Quidditch, and I’m a big Harry Potter nerd, so I thought it would be fun,” said Theurerkauf.
Silva said he thinks the change is unnecessary and performative. He said there is no way to break all ties with Rowling when Quadball teams are still playing a sport that she invented.
“I am not really a huge fan of the name change,” Silva said. “I understand why they want to do it — to separate us from J.K. Rowling — but I feel like if they really were focused on the whole idea of separation then we would just cancel the sport, period.”
While the initial draw of Quadball was its correlation with the magical universe of Harry Potter, Theuerkauf said he has continued playing it after the name change because he has fallen in love with the experience and the people on the U-M team.
“It got to the point where it didn’t really matter about being about Harry Potter,” Theuerkauf said. “I got to know more people in the club, and that’s what kind of made me stay, but if I didn’t have such a great connection with the people there I don’t think I’d want to continue. It’s just like any other sport.”
Daily Staff Reporter Madison Hammond can be reached at madihamm@umich.edu.