QUIDDITCH

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Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure..."
  -- Lee Jordan, calling a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin

Quidditch, "the sport of warlocks," is the premier sport of the wizarding world. Everyone follows Quidditch. Quidditch is a fast, dangerous, exciting game in which two teams flying on broomsticks compete for points scored by throwing a ball--the Quaffle--through hoops on either end of a large grassy pitch. Quidditch is played by kids on broomsticks in the back apple orchard, by teams of students at Hogwarts, and by professional athletes whose exploits are followed avidly all over the world. The World Cup matches attract hundreds of thousands of fans. 

Quidditch falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, part of the Ministry of Magic. The professional organization is called the International Association of Quidditch. Professional matches are attended by trained mediwizards and while there are many injuries, there are few deaths from Quidditch accidents. However, referees have been known to disappear completely only to turn up weeks later in the middle of the Sahara Desert. There are seven hundred possible ways to commit a foul in Quidditch, all of which occurred in a World Cup match held in 1473.

The name "Quidditch" comes from Queerditch Marsh, the place where the game originated in the 1000s