Eamon O’Keefe, who is from Marino in north Dublin is going into third year Astrophysics in UCD and is a committee member on the UCD Harry Potter Society where he is Quidditch captain.

Eamon says he loves Harry Potter. “I read all the books a couple of times, and have done a few movie marathons…when I came to UCD and I found out there was a Harry Potter Society, I had to join.” But Eamon says the society is by no means fanatical. “I wouldn’t even call myself fanatical about Harry Potter. I like Harry Potter, I think it’s a really cool world…and I love the society because it brings people together. But we’re not dressing up in capes and hats - I mean you can if you want, that’s pretty cool,” but Eamon contends “we’re just a group of friends who like Harry Potter.”

Eamon says that although it’s an unusual society “it’s actually quite popular, there’s a good few members.”

These members enjoy movie nights and meet-ups that include evenings in the pub. There is also an annual yule ball and last year, the society travelled to the Warner Bros. Studio in London.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Harry Potter Society without a Sorting Ceremony. This involves doing a quiz on a committee member’s phone. “There were hundreds of people and then it was just like in the movie, they called people up, and based on your answers to the quiz, they’d sort you into a house,” explains Eamon, recalling last year’s Sorting Ceremony. “It was really cool.”

QUIDDITCH

Last year, during one of the movie nights, a random man walked in and introduced himself as a coach of the Dublin Draíochta Dragons quidditch team. He isn’t directly associated with the Harry Potter Society but he thought there would be people in the society that might be interested in joining his team - and he was right. Eamon joined and is now a beater for the Dublin team. Eamon says he “fell in love with Quidditch … I really, really like it so I thought it might be cool to bring it to UCD.”

Eamon says people outside of college, such as his parents and school friends think his involvement in a Harry Potter Society is weird, but he feels that in college people are generally more accepting of things – not least because “there’s just weird societies, like there just is and people are into weird things.”

Eamon says things are a little different however when it comes to quidditch. “Pretty much everyone I’ve spoken about quidditch to is weirded out at the start. I was very weirded out when I heard about quidditch first, I thought it sounded stupid, I thought the brooms looked really lame and when I mounted the broom for the first time I felt really self-conscious and stupid. But you get used to it and when you start playing it you start realising how fun it is…”

Eamon says that quidditch is as much a sport as soccer or rugby is, and the only reason it’s not accepted as an official sport is because there aren’t enough people playing “but in 50 years that could be completely different.”