Quidditch comes to life at Murdoch university

 By Peter Sinagra Murdoch University is playing host to a curious new sport that’s captured the interest of many students all over the campus. Quidditch was the sport made famous in the Harry Potter fantasy film and book series by J.K Rowling. The University’s team has been named the Murdoch Mandrakes. Team captain Katelyn Stubberfield says: “It is a co-educational sport with seven members on each team. “I heard about Quidditch at a Murdoch talk at my school and instantly thought yes I’m doing that.” Quidditch has become a recreational sport for some university students and even provides the chance to play in a national championship. Quidditch player Cassidy Austin says: “I got into Quidditch because fun and enjoyable and I like the social side of it.” The team at Murdoch started after the craze was spotted on the internet unfolding in the United States. Katelyn Stubberfield also plays on the Perth Phoenixes team: “We go to Sydney for nationals which we won last year and are the current champions and we will be going back at the end of November.” This Harry Potter-inspired sport has kicked off all over the world. An international championship is held each year. In 2013 Katelyn Stubberfield competed with the Australian Team in Canada. For anybody looking to join the Murdoch Mandrakes Quidditch team they can do so by going to the club’s Facebook page or sending an email to murdochmandrakes@gmail.com If you’d like to know more about the sport, Katelyn (the team captain) encourages anybody interested to come and see their training every Wednesday at 5.30pm at the Murdoch college oval. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/173601546″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]