Quafflepunch

• Sport: Quidditch
• Effect: Illegally tampering with the Quaffle. This includes any action by a player that alters the ball's physical state or magical properties to affect its flight or handling, such as puncturing, gripping improperly, or otherwise modifying it.
• Type: A game foul, most often committed by a Chaser.
• Penalty: Conceding a penalty shot to the opposing team.

Quafflepunching is one of the oldest and most explicitly forbidden fouls in the game of Quidditch. It was officially catalogued as part of the seven hundred fouls established by the Department of Magical Games and Sports in 1538. The rule is designed to ensure the Quaffle remains in a standardized and fair condition for all players (Quidditch Through the Ages). An early, notable instance of this foul involved the wizard Nugent Potts, who played for the Wimbourne Wasps. Frustrated by an opponent who was persistently Quafflepunching, Potts used a Memory Charm on the player to make him forget the illegal tactic (Quidditch Through the Ages). During Harry Potter's first Quidditch match for Gryffindor against Slytherin in 1991, the commentator Lee Jordan accused a Slytherin Chaser of “Quafflepunching” immediately after Gryffindor Chaser Angelina Johnson scored the first goal of the game.

The term “Quafflepunch” is a straightforward compound word derived from its two components:

• Quaffle: The name of the red, leather-bound ball that Chasers use to score goals.
• Punch: This likely refers to a common method of illegal tampering, such as punching the ball to deform it and alter its aerodynamics.

While mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the specific definition and historical background of Quafflepunching are detailed in the supplementary book Quidditch Through the Ages, written by J.K. Rowling for charity.