Russian Potter fans 'play Quidditch'

Quidditch normally requires the use of magic broomsticks

Russian Harry Potter fans have devised a real-life version of the boy wizard's favourite sport, Quidditch, according to reports.

Quidditch, an invention of author JK Rowling, is a hair-raising game played in the air on broomsticks - as spectacularly realised in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

But the staff of a Russian newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Alexander Maryin of a Moscow children's club, have transferred the game on to an ordinary playing field, the Times reports.

In the Russian version, broomsticks are replaced by human beings who carry the players on their shoulders, says the paper.

Golden snitch

The "human broomsticks" change places every five minutes to avoid becoming exhausted.

The Harry Potter film has been a worldwide hit

But the toughest challenge was to find a way of replicating the golden snitch, a small winged ball that plays a vital role in the game.

Two models of the golden snitch were developed, using pieces of string and eggcups - one for younger players and the second for those who want more of a challenge.

The first snitch consists of a ball on a string attached to a wooden egg cup. The Quidditch player has to throw the ball into the air and catch it in the egg cup.

Moscow

The second kind of snitch consists of a rod, to which a ball with a hole in it is attached by a length of string. The aim is to spear the ball on the end of the rod.

The paper adds the first real-life match of Quidditch was played last week in Moscow - in a temperature of -15C.

The Quidditch game in the Harry Potter film was shot in North West Scotland, near Glencoe, Glen Nevis and around Loch Shiel and Glenfinnan.

The locations were amongst a number of Scottish landscapes which provided crucial shots for the first Harry Potter film.

Filming for the next in the series - Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets - is to resume around Lochaber in the spring of 2002.