BU Quidditch highlights club teams’ struggles

Boston University Quidditch has enjoyed a great deal of success on the playing field, but not so much at its home university.

Despite ranking in the top five in the International Quidditch Association league, the Quidditch team has struggled to obtain formal university recognition. The team aims to continue talks with athletic officials to try to become a club sport, said BU Quidditch President Max Havlin.

Yet the waiting period for a club sport can span years due to budget restraints, officials said. For a newer sport like Quidditch, the process can be even more difficult.

“We are concerned because our Quidditch team is becoming more popular each year without BU’s support, whether it be financial or simply access to a storage space for equipment,” Havlin, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said.

However, the team understands the process takes time, he said.

“We are willing to work with the athletics department and the Deans for as long as it takes,” he added.

BU Quidditch formed in 2007 and became a student group under the Student Activities Organization.

Safety concerns, combined with budget constraints, have prevented the team from becoming a club sport. Over the summer, SAO determined that Quidditch could no longer be recognized as a student group because it was too physical. With that, BU Quidditch lost funding.

It is common for a prospective club sport to take years to become official, said Tim Moore, executive director of the Fitness and Recreation Center. The successful teams lobby persistently, meeting with officials every semester to discuss their progress.

The construction of the New Balance Field and lacrosse’s move to varsity meant the athletic department could add two more club sports, Moore said. They chose men’s soccer and cricket, which had been lobbying for years.

BU Quidditch has to compete with tennis, parkour and several other clubs for the next available spot.

But the team also has to address the athletic officials’ safety concerns. Moore said the game involves intense contact and that the IQA has been slow to implement sufficient safeguards.

“It appears to me that Quidditch is one of those sports where the promotion of the sport got ahead of the management of the sport,” Moore said in a phone interview.

Quidditch naturally involves contact. Two teams of seven — three chasers, two beaters, one keeper and a seeker — face off on a field to see who can score the most points. Chasers try to get the “quaffle,” a volleyball, into the goal, while beaters hit people with dodgeballs. Meanwhile, a neutral player acts as the snitch and runs away until getting caught by one of the team’s seekers, ending the game.

“We found that the game had rugby-level contact,” Moore added. “Folks were reporting that there were a significant amount of injuries and ambulance calls during their events.”

There is tackling, but individual teams can change the rules to play without it. Emerson College Quidditch took tackling out of gameplay, said the team’s vice president, Paulina Pascual.

BU Quidditch players have sustained minor injuries, like bruises or strains, Havlin said. Other teams have had serious injuries, including broken bones and concussions, but he said the IQA has implemented policies to keep players safe.

During talks, BU Quidditch members and officials decided to establish an intramural Quidditch league. The game was altered so it could pass for a no-contact sport, which actually deterred students from signing up, Havlin said.

In the meantime, BU Quidditch practices wherever members find space. One week they’ll find a spot on campus, and the next they’ll train in a random field.

“I would be very disappointed if a solution is not reached with BU for Quidditch to become re-affiliated, because we are continually one of the biggest clubs in BU,” Havlin said. “So many students will have missed out on a wonderful and thriving community.”