A touch of Hogwarts is coming to Clapham Common as it prepares to host try-outs for the Quidditch Premier League.

The magical sport from J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ series has been reimagined for Muggle players, with teams running with brooms between their legs and attempting to throw a semi-deflated volleyball ‘quaffle’ through hoops at either end of the pitch.

As well as avoiding dodgeball ‘bludgers’, each team’s seeker must try to catch the enchanted ‘golden snitch’: in this case, a sock with a tennis ball in it, attached to the shorts of a ‘snitch runner’.

Surrey Comet:

Quidditch in action. Photo: Katherine Watson

Successful competitors at the try-outs will make it onto the London Monarchs team, and play in the Quidditch Premier League (QPL) against seven other teams from across the UK.

Director of QPL, Jack Lennard, said: “We’re thrilled to bring try-outs for the QPL to regions around the UK.

“After an overwhelmingly positive response and an incredible amount of press coverage, we can finally get to work offering the public this unique event, and getting more people than ever involved in the sport.

“Most of the top players in this sport appeared overnight, and so I’m sure that people out there, reading this, perhaps who have never even tried a full-contact sport before, could be the next QPL champions.”

According to the QPL, Quidditch has become an international sport with 20,000 players in 25 different countries.

Each team is made up of 21 players, with seven per team on the field at any one time.

The sport has also been praised for gender inclusivity, due to its rule that each team should have no more than four players of the same gender on the pitch at one time.

Try-outs for QPL will be held on Clapham Common, outside Clapham South station, on Sunday, February 5, and Sunday, February 19, between 12pm and 3pm.

To register your interest in taking part, click here.

The QPL will begin in late May, and end in August.