[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: A couple questions for Brits

[Kathryn]

--So if ice hockey is more common than street hockey -- does that 
mean people watch it on the telly? (Maybe on satellite TV or at 
sports bars?) I'm looking for games where there's a similarity in 
game strategies to the scoring in Quidditch. Football where there's 
a goal and goalie is similar enough to hockey (even if there aren't 
the same number of players). Basketball doesn't use a goaltender, 
but it still has players who will try and block shots, rebound, etc.

What I'm looking for is the likelihood that a sports crazed Muggle 
such as Dean Thomas might be up on different sports such as 
basketball and hockey. We know he loves football. But could he be 
a fan and know some of the strategies of hockey even if he never put 
on a pair of skates in his life?

And thanks for the tip on Rugby, but I don't really want to learn 
all about these games - just enough to be dangerous...;-)

Athena

I don't know abou satellite tv - which Dean might well have had at home if
either of his parents were as sports crazed as him, but Ice hockey isn't
really shown on terrestrial tv (except channel 5 at about 3am but then they
also show baseball and aussie rules football at that time so I don't think
it counts because they get about 12 viewers). If he was up on other sports
it would most likely be rugby and cricket, maybe field hockey (but kids
usually only learn that, and therefore only get interested, at senior
school). Rugby could be considered quite similar to quidditch in some ways,
although no goal tender, but there are sort of equivalents to chasers and
beaters. (does it show that I know nothing about it?)

Hell if he comes from London he could conceivably go and watch - football,
rugby, cricket, ice hockey, basketball,  american football, motor racing,
and greyhound racing without travelling too far!

K