Sportscotland Approves Quidditch Guidelines

While QuidditchUK makes plans for 2021, it has also released new guidance for return to play for Scottish teams. The guidance has been approved by the national agency Sportscotland, according to a post from QuidditchUK published on January 21.

The Scottish Parliament created five protection levels that apply to different areas of the country. Currently, most of Scotland is in lockdown. After the lockdown is lifted and a region reaches at least Tier 3, teams in that region can resume training.

According to the protection levels, noncontact quidditch training is allowed in groups with a maximum of 30 people at Level 3 and Level 4. At Level 1 and Level 2, contact training is allowed; regular training and gameplay is permitted at Level 0.

QuidditchUK recommends that teams train on training grounds owned by universities, schools, leisure centers, or private companies instead of training in parks or other public spaces. The problem is that Muggle quidditch isn’t a fully recognized sport, and a member of law enforcement could decide that quidditch training isn’t officially allowed sports training and that players are disobeying the law by gathering in public. The guidance approved by Sportscotland should give teams a little protection, but even Sportscotland cannot confirm how this will be interpreted in reality.

In the new guidance, there is a new obligation for teams: Each of them has to have a COVID officer. The nominated person should complete Sportscotland’s e-learning module and inform QuidditchUK about that. Each COVID officer is responsible for ensuring that their club follows rules about public health and safety and for checking documents about new risk assessments. The COVID officer will be the main point of contact for everything related to their club and COVID-19.

The full list of QuidditchUK guidelines for Scotland, as approved by Sportscotland, is available on Google Docs.