Schiri, wir wissen wo dein Besen steht
Oct. 16th, 2017 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oloriel(hat gut gefegt)
(ham wir zersägt)
What better way to spend a sunny afternoon in October than to plod down to the local sports pitch to watch a bunch of athletes running around and scoring goals in the blinding autumn light?
ABOUT A THOUSAND WAYS I would have said, until yesterday.
Just a normal afternoon down at some small-town pitch
Because yesterday I went with my olde Ring*Con pal Judith, her housemate and the housemate's boyfriend to watch the end-of-the-season games of the German Quidditch League.
I am not shitting you, this is real
We had timed our visit sort of randomly, but it turned out to be perfect because we arrived just before the finals. Since we were watching these matches in the shadow of the mighty Drachenfels, we decided to root for the most local team available, i.e. the Rheinos Bonn, which turned out to be a good choice, but tbh I was perfectly willing to cheer for everyone since Cologne wasn't involved anyway.
I love approximately everything about this
The first match (for third place), Looping Lux Leipzig vs. Hamburg Werewolves, was moving reasonably slow - not slow enough to be boring, but slow enough to give us a chance at figuring out the goings-on and the rules. (Judith had brought her copy of Quidditch through the Ages but strangely it glosses over the singularities of Lawn Quidditch, boo.) By a mixture of garbled book memories (made more complicated by the fact that half of us had read the books in English, and the other half in German), conjecture, questions to the assorted camp-followers and other experienced observers, and downloading the official rulebook of the German Quidditch Federation (yes, really), we managed (or thought we managed) to more or less know what was happening. At least until the snitch appeared and we got so distracted by watching what was going on there that we missed half a dozen goals that got scored in the meantime? Can't see everything at once, no wonder they have almost as many referees as they've got players.
The Rheinos are ready to rumble
The second match, Darmstadt Athenas vs. Rheinos Bonn battling it out for first place, was moving a lot faster; these really were a league of their own, and if anyone wants to question whether Lawn Quidditch is a real sport and can be taken at all serious, the answer after having seen this is a big, resounding Yes.
Bad quality but this is what the hunt for the Snitch looks like. (The Snitch is worn in a sock attached to the butt of the guy in gold, which has to be torn off, kind of like in flag football?). Here, he is "hiding" behind the Rheinos' Seeker, who has no interest whatsoever in catching the Snitch because her team is (as yet) too far behind.
Scenes of general pandemonium
Once the sun dropped behind the mountain, it got rather cooler than we were prepared for (though Judith had brought a cloak and I had my trusty Ravenclaw scarf to keep me warm, haha), but we heroically stayed through a very exciting catch-up race. When the Snitch entered the pitch, Darmstadt was leading 100:30 but the Rheinos managed to score a lot of goals while Darmstadt were distracted by trying to help their Seeker, and in the end, they forced a tie break by catching the Snitch (only 30 points in Muggle Quidditch) and going into overtime, where the Rheinos remained the superior team and deservedly won. There were a lot of Snitch catches (by either Seeker) that weren't counted for some reason that I, being a total newbie to Lawn Quidditch, cannot guess at, but the Rheinos deserved the victory simply for the way in which they managed to turn the tide and power through.
In conclusion, A++ way to spend a Sunday, would do it again.
And how did y'all spend this very fine October weekend?
(ham wir zersägt)
What better way to spend a sunny afternoon in October than to plod down to the local sports pitch to watch a bunch of athletes running around and scoring goals in the blinding autumn light?
ABOUT A THOUSAND WAYS I would have said, until yesterday.
Just a normal afternoon down at some small-town pitch
Because yesterday I went with my olde Ring*Con pal Judith, her housemate and the housemate's boyfriend to watch the end-of-the-season games of the German Quidditch League.
I am not shitting you, this is real
We had timed our visit sort of randomly, but it turned out to be perfect because we arrived just before the finals. Since we were watching these matches in the shadow of the mighty Drachenfels, we decided to root for the most local team available, i.e. the Rheinos Bonn, which turned out to be a good choice, but tbh I was perfectly willing to cheer for everyone since Cologne wasn't involved anyway.
I love approximately everything about this
The first match (for third place), Looping Lux Leipzig vs. Hamburg Werewolves, was moving reasonably slow - not slow enough to be boring, but slow enough to give us a chance at figuring out the goings-on and the rules. (Judith had brought her copy of Quidditch through the Ages but strangely it glosses over the singularities of Lawn Quidditch, boo.) By a mixture of garbled book memories (made more complicated by the fact that half of us had read the books in English, and the other half in German), conjecture, questions to the assorted camp-followers and other experienced observers, and downloading the official rulebook of the German Quidditch Federation (yes, really), we managed (or thought we managed) to more or less know what was happening. At least until the snitch appeared and we got so distracted by watching what was going on there that we missed half a dozen goals that got scored in the meantime? Can't see everything at once, no wonder they have almost as many referees as they've got players.
The Rheinos are ready to rumble
The second match, Darmstadt Athenas vs. Rheinos Bonn battling it out for first place, was moving a lot faster; these really were a league of their own, and if anyone wants to question whether Lawn Quidditch is a real sport and can be taken at all serious, the answer after having seen this is a big, resounding Yes.
Bad quality but this is what the hunt for the Snitch looks like. (The Snitch is worn in a sock attached to the butt of the guy in gold, which has to be torn off, kind of like in flag football?). Here, he is "hiding" behind the Rheinos' Seeker, who has no interest whatsoever in catching the Snitch because her team is (as yet) too far behind.
Scenes of general pandemonium
Once the sun dropped behind the mountain, it got rather cooler than we were prepared for (though Judith had brought a cloak and I had my trusty Ravenclaw scarf to keep me warm, haha), but we heroically stayed through a very exciting catch-up race. When the Snitch entered the pitch, Darmstadt was leading 100:30 but the Rheinos managed to score a lot of goals while Darmstadt were distracted by trying to help their Seeker, and in the end, they forced a tie break by catching the Snitch (only 30 points in Muggle Quidditch) and going into overtime, where the Rheinos remained the superior team and deservedly won. There were a lot of Snitch catches (by either Seeker) that weren't counted for some reason that I, being a total newbie to Lawn Quidditch, cannot guess at, but the Rheinos deserved the victory simply for the way in which they managed to turn the tide and power through.
In conclusion, A++ way to spend a Sunday, would do it again.
And how did y'all spend this very fine October weekend?
no subject
Date: 2017-10-16 12:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-18 11:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-16 05:31 pm (UTC)Sadly, there are no official teams near me; the closest is a couple hours away. So I'll live vicariously through your pictures.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-18 11:16 am (UTC)The teams around here are all university-based (though some are open to non-students) and I probably won't be able to attend matches (let alone join a team) all that often, either. But I'm glad I got the chance!
no subject
Date: 2017-10-22 10:11 pm (UTC)There's a community quidditch team in Minneapolis but I have about two decades on anyone who's actually interested in playing, so this probably isn't my sort of thing.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-23 01:46 pm (UTC)I had no idea it was such a well-organised international sport until that weekend, I have to admit! Maybe it'll turn olympic within our lifetimes? :D