Quidditch has existed as an intercollegiate sport since Fall 2007 when Vassar College lost the premier Quidditch World Cup to Middlebury College. Now, Vassar is once again making its way into the annals of quidditch history. Yesterday, the Butterbeer Broooers hosted Finland’s only quidditch team, the University of Vaasa Centaurs, in the first-ever intercontinental quidditch match, in Kenyon Hall.

The Centaurs’ roster actually consists of members of three schools—The University of Vaasa, Åbo Akademi Vaasa and Hanken School of Economics—and while the team masquerades as a quidditch squad, they actually have another identity. Vassar quidditch Captain Sandy Wood ’13 explained, “I believe it’s the Model [United Nations (UN)] team.” Wood continued, noting that the Butterbeer Broooers received an e-mail in late 2010 stating, “[Vaasa was] planning on coming to the United States in February and they [wanted] to arrange to play us.”

The Vaasa roster consists of 11 players from five different countries: Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and Mexico. The team was initially introduced to the sport just months ago, when as Wood explained, a member of the team happened to discover online videos showcasing the sport. The game quickly spread in Finland, and just a few months later the country’s first quidditch team is already facing international competition.

International director of the International Quidditch Association (IQA) Andrea Hill confirmed in an e-mailed statement, “The Centaurs are playing in the United States because most players are on a National Model [United Nations (NMUN)] team traveling to Boston for the NMUN at Harvard [University] in February. Individuals from the team traveling to the States for this event decided to get some game time in while they were in America.”

Vassar will not be the only team facing Vaasa when the Finnish squad visits the United States; they will also face a number of Boston-area teams, including 2010 runner-up Tufts University and Stony Brook University. However, Vassar will be both their first American opponent, as well as their first intercollegiate opponent. Hill writes: “The Vaasa Centaurs team formed in December 2010 so the team is quite young. However, team members have been practicing diligently in the past months in between studying and preparing for the NMUN. The games in the United States will be the first they play against other teams.”

Although the Centaurs will be spending the lionshare of their time in Boston, they decided to go out of their way to face the Broooers. Wood claimed Vaasa’s decision to visit Vassar is one inspired by the similarities in their names.

When prodded to elaborate by fellow Captain Nathan Hoston ’13, she continued, “Well, I think that must have been part of what makes it fun.”

Hoston offered a different explanation: “I would like to think it was because of our reputation.” The reputation, Hoston added, is one of skill, sportsmanship and friendliness. He did, however, relent that the similarities in the names might have also been a factor.

Hill, though, offered another explanation. “Teams were chosen on a first-come basis. Vassar volunteered first and offered to host players,” she wrote in an e-mailed statement.

Those within the IQA are hopeful that this international expansion is a lasting trend. Hill writes, “We have a number of teams across the world, including teams in Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, France, Germany and the United Kingdom and we hope to encourage some of these teams to travel to the United States.”

Commissioner of the International Quidditch Association Alex Benepe is hopeful that this international presence might manifest itself at the 2011 World Cup, the IQA’s next signature event. He wrote in an e-mailed statement, “Both Vaasa and a team [from] Auckland, New Zealand hope to attend the 2011 World Cup.”

Although in the Harry Potter books it is easy for wizards and witches to assemble from across the planet for a quidditch match, in the muggle world the same feat is challenging. Still, with Vaasa’s visit to Poughkeepsie and the United States, perhaps a trend is beginning, just as a trend began three-and-a-half years ago on a field at Middlebury College.