Australian 'Quidditch' players ditch name to distance themselves from Harry ... trends now
Australian players of 'Quidditch' - the sport made famous in JK Rowling's Harry Potter novels - have voted to rename it 'Quadball' in a bid to distance themselves from the author over her views on trans rights.
Members of Quidditch Australia, the sport's governing body, voted in favour of changing their name to 'Quadball' at their annual general meeting in December last year.
It follows other Quadball organisations across the world who made a similar move last year.
Players of real-life Quidditch must run with a broom between their legs because - unlike the wizards in JK Rowling's books - they lack the ability to fly
But artist and writer Alexandra Marshall blasted the decision as 'delusional, disingenuous and vacuous'.
'They were never playing "Quidditch" because none of them have magical broomsticks,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'It was a name appropriated from the Harry Potter series by an international body using JK Rowling's fame, presumably as a marketing ploy, and now they're worried that Generation Snowflake is offended.'
The fictional sport, which first appeared in Rowling's world-famous Potter books, involves schoolchildren who are wizards and witches competing to snatch a tiny golden ball on flying broomsticks.
In real life, players run around with brooms between their legs and the Golden Snitch is a tennis ball hidden inside a long sock hanging from the shorts of an impartial official dressed in yellow.
The sport, which started in 2005 and is now played by nearly 600 teams in 40 countries, has never been endorsed by Ms Rowling.
Last year, the sport's global governing body, the International Quidditch Association, announced it would change the name after Ms Rowling came 'under scrutiny for her anti-trans positions'. National governing bodies across the world followed suit.
Now Australia has followed in their footsteps after Natalie Astalosh, of the Sydney City Serpents, submitted a motion for the name change to Quidditch Australia - as it was then called - late last year.
