Cheating in Quidditch & movie contamination

[Diana Lucas]

No: HPFGUIDX 50762

DM wrote:
>>>I'm watching the superbowl with my family right now
(actually it's a commercial break) and I was thinking
about magical cheating and it's use in sports.
Dumbledore is able to slow Harry's fall to the ground
in PoA, and, in CoS, the rogue bludger is destroyed by
Finite Incantatem. In SS, Quirrel jinxes Harry's
broom... In Quidditch games, at least at Hogwarts, it
is clear that there are no charms that prevent the use
of magic (other than brooms). What about at official
league games? Sound amplification charms work, but
curses? I'm curious if anyone's ever tried to curse
someone off their brooms there... It leads to
interesting thoughts.<<<

Now me:
The rogue bludger was wrestled back into it's box by
Fred and George Weasley in the book.  It was only in
the movie that the rogue bludger was destroyed by
Hermione.  
That aside, to address the point of your post,
Quidditch does have rules against using magic for or
against the teams - breaking those rules results in a
foul being called and a chance for a goal to be made
by the team that had been fouled.  I read the
"Quidditch Through The Ages Book" written by JK
Rowling for a charity fund-raiser and it does state
that using magic for or against any of the players is
against the rules. 
I would imagine that even a small crowd, let alone a
stadium full, of wizards and witches would be able to
tell if magic was being used during a Quidditch match.
 I think the use of magic during Quidditch games to
influence the game at the point in time of these books
would be considered dishonorable - like the Red Sox
throwing that baseball game way back when.  There
probably aren't charms to prevent it, but I bet it
occurs very, very rarely, if at all.  Every society
has accepted codes of behavior that all members of
that society adhere to and I could see keeping your
magic to yourself while watching the most popular
wizard sport ever as one of those codes of conduct
nearly all adhere to.  

As for wizards influencing Muggle games for their own
profit - I suppose it is possible, but so many wizards
are portrayed as not wanting to participate much in
the Muggle world at all unless they can't help it.  It
would have to be an odd sort of wizard to get into
Muggle sports enough to be able to figure out how and
where to bet on the games and then change the games to
match what how they'd bet.  

I think the Death Eaters' antics at the Quidditch
World Cup, as you cited, is precisely the problems
that would occur if wizards en masse decided to
declare their existence to and, more specifically,
dominance over Muggles.  It is mentioned several times
in all the books that during Voldemort's rise to
power, the WW grew more and more afraid that
Voldemort's many murders and acts of terror would
reveal the existence of the entire WW to the Muggles. 
As I understood it, Voldemort and his followers didn't
care if the Muggles found out about their world -
since they regarded Muggles as little more than toys
they could play with when they felt like it anyway.  

Note to everyone, if you haven't picked up these two
books - "Quidditch Through the Ages" and "Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them" - you should do so as
soon as possible!  They really add lots of background
info to the HP books.  And the "Beasts" book is very
funny as Harry's 'hand-written' notes are reproduced
inside the book as well.  :)
 
Diana


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