Quidditch Pitches

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"Quidditch pitch" redirects here. Were you looking for Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, the pitch on the Hogwarts grounds?

"Quidditch stadium" redirects here. Were you looking for Quidditch World Cup Stadium, the stadium of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup?

A Quidditch pitch is the area that is used to play Quidditch. A modern Quidditch pitch has an oval shape. Three golden goal hoops on fifty feet high poles are located in a scoring area at each end of the pitch. The centre of the grass field is marked by a circle from which the balls are released (QA6, PS11, GF8). The pitch is typically surrounded by high stands that give the crowd a good view of the game; stands and pitch form a stadium whose size can range greatly—the Hogwarts stadium holds several hundred, while the stadium of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup has a hundred thousand seats (PS11, GF8).

To keep the existence of wizards hidden from Muggles, Quidditch pitches are set up at remote locations and magically secured against discovery by the Department of Magical Games and Sports (QA5, GF7).

History of the Quidditch pitch

Queerditch Marsh served as the first rudimentary Quidditch pitch when the game evolved in the 11th century. To score a goal, the first players simply stuck the ball into trees at either end of the marsh. In the next hundred years, the game became popular across Britain. A letter from Goodwin Kneen from Yorkshire to his cousin Olaf reports the use of three barrels on stilts as goalposts (QA5).

By the end of the 14th century, the modern oval shape and the central circle had been introduced; the pitch measured five hundred feet in length and a hundred and eighty feet in width. Since we know of no changes to these dimensions, it is possible that they still apply today. Large baskets on poles served as goalposts (QA6). This century also brought the first legislation concerning the location of Quidditch pitches. In 1362, the Wizards' Council banned playing within fifty miles of towns; that radius was doubled in 1368. In 1419 the Council banned Quidditch-playing "anywhere near any place where there is the slightest chance that a Muggle might be watching or we'll see how well you can play whilst chained to a dungeon wall" (QA5).

A drawing from 1620 shows scoring areas and higher goalposts with smaller baskets. In 1883, the Department of Magical Games and Sports exchanged the baskets for hoops, because baskets of varying size were in use and hoop sizes were easier to standardize. The Quidditch pitch has not changed since then (QA6).

Known locations of pitches

Quidditch pitches are often located in remote moors and marshes, including Exmoor, Bodmin Moor, and Ilkley Moor (DP). The pitch for the Quidditch World Cup of 1994 is also built in a moor (GF6). Hogwarts has its own pitch on the school grounds (PS11).