Quidditch, a sport created for the fictional world of Harry Potter before it spread to US college campuses, changes its name to quadball.
In December, two of the sport’s key governing bodies, US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch, said they were considering a name change due to “sponsorship and broadcast opportunities” that were lost because Warner Bros, which produces the Harry Potter film series, owns is the copyright for the current name of the sport.
On Tuesday, however, another sport’s governing body, the International Quidditch Association, cited JK Rowling’s “anti-trans positions” as the reason for the move.
The Harry Potter author has been accused of being transphobic, an accusation she denies.
“We’ve tried to make it clear that there are both reasons,” Jack McGovern, a spokesman for US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch, told the New York Times.
“We didn’t want to make any value judgments about which reason is more important than the other.”
He added that the sport’s association with Rowling has created a problem in recruiting new players.
Major League Quidditch and US Quidditch are now called Major League Quadball and US Quadball, respectively. The International Quidditch Association is expected to change its name in the near future.
“In less than 20 years, our sport has grown from a few dozen college students in rural Vermont to a global phenomenon with thousands of players, semi-professional leagues and international championships,” said Mary Kimball, chief executive officer of US Quadball, in a statement .
“Our organizations are committed to continuing to push quadball forward.”
The sport’s new name refers to the number of balls on the field during matches, as well as the number of player positions. The fictional game was turned into a real sport in 2005 and today has 600 teams in 40 countries.