A young man decided to quit rugby after taking up the Harry Potter game of Quidditch.
Philip Moore, who lives and works in Dublin, says the new 'crazy' sport offers a much stronger sense of community.
He has been playing the game for five years now and has competed in tournaments around the world.
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In the Harry Potter books, Quidditch is a sport of two teams with seven players mounted on broomsticks. It is played on a hockey rink-sized pitch.
The game later developed into a real-life sport in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Philip told Dublin Live: “I was walking through campus one day and a random Austrian guy said ‘hey you look kind of sporty but also like a bit of a nerd, would you like to play Quidditch?’ I was so curious and couldn’t say no.
“It’s like a cross between rugby, handball and dodgeball on a pitch. It’s a crazy, weird sport developed from the Harry Potter books.
“I’ve been in it for nearly five years now. I used to play rugby. Honestly, I couldn't tell you the names of the players who lived a half hour down the road from me. In Quidditch, I can name members of the Australian team because we met and became friends with each other.
“We have such a great community. When I played sport in Ireland everyone kind of kept to their own teams. You stick within your own local parish. With Quidditch, we all end up together and we’re playing for the love of something we share.
“The people, the friends, travelling is why I stuck with it. When I played rugby the furthest I went was two hours down the road. Meanwhile with Quidditch, I've been all over the world.
Speaking about the quirky sport, Philip explained that it’s extremely welcoming and it offers so many opportunities.
He said: “There’s a collective group of people, you’ve the more athletic ones and then other people fall into it through their love of Harry Potter.
“I made so many friends as soon as I started. Within four days of meeting the Dublin team we travelled to Belfast and met them. We got on so well then a week later we flew to Denmark and I met their team. I also met the Icelandic, the Swedish, Swiss and Dutch teams.
“It’s grown and it’s all over the world, it’s played in over 40 different countries and we have 32 teams coming to the European Club Championships in Limerick this summer and there’s 20 teams coming for national challenges.
“I’ve been organising two international events that will bring in over 1000 people from everywhere to play in Ireland. It’s all very exciting.”
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