Quidditch Comes Back to the United Kingdom and the United States
After weeks of not being able to play Muggle quidditch in many places, the sport is slowly coming back. Within the past three weeks, QuidditchUK (March 8), US Quidditch (USQ) (March 12), and Major League Quidditch (MLQ) (March 26) have all released new guidelines for spring.
QuidditchUK had announced its new guidelines for Scotland before, when the guidelines were approved by Sportscotland, and now it has added guidelines for England and Wales. Both have different stages, and the numbering for England is the inverse of the numbering for Scotland and Wales. While England starts at Step 1 (in which only six people can attend training), Wales starts at Alert Level 4 (in which only four people can attend training), and Scotland starts at Level 4 (in which only two people can attend training).
USQ requires teams to follow its return to play guidelines, even if their state has lower safety requirements. The USQ guidelines let all teams start at Stage 0 with no in-person events. To move to the next stage, teams must fulfill the baseline condition of having no positive COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days. In Stage 1, players can have trainings with a maximum of 10 people. After 14 days in Stage 1 with no positive cases, the team can move to Stage 2 and have 25 people at practices.
The baseline conditions for moving to other stages are more specific and consider the number of positive cases in the state and how large the increases in positive cases there have been. If a team is fully vaccinated, it is possible to skip to Stage 3, even if the state that team is in doesn’t fulfill the baseline conditions.
MLQ uses a five-tier system based on indicators to determine its guidelines for its American and Canadian franchises. Tiers are determined based on daily new cases, positive test rates, and infection rates.
A large part of MLQ guidelines is also about video tryout filming sessions. This part includes mandatory requirements and a detailed structure of what has to happen before the event, on the day of the event, and after the event.
The purpose of these guidelines is to allow franchise staff to conduct COVID-19 regulation[-]compliant, in-person, one-on-one filming sessions with potential athletes [who] may not otherwise have access to the equipment necessary to film tryouts for the upcoming MLQ season.
