26/11/2023
Lacrosse is the oldest sport in North America.
This is our history.
This is our passion.
Originating among various Native communities, with regional variations on how the game was played, lacrosse was played throughout modern Canada, the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic seaboard, and the American South.
Traditional lacrosse games were major events that lasted several days. As many as 100 to 1,000 men from opposing villages and/or tribes would participate.
Early Native Americans played the game barefoot, with no equipment and a loose set of rules. Serious injury and death was somewhat common in these large unregulated games.
"You could hear the injured scream". Many explained.
Mobs of warriors fought to advance a ball—a leather object stuffed with hair—on fields with loosely defined, unmarked boundaries. The men wielded crooked sticks resembling war clubs in a constant state of chaos. They attacked one another; wood clashed and bashed opponents. Sounds of play resembled those of bloody conflict.
Native Americans looked at lacrosse in two almost/seemingly opposing ways. "The medicine game", many called it, was believed to heal the sick when games were held in honor of the ill or injured. This was and still is believed to bring/have brought strong medicinal power to the sick, wounded, and dying. That it helped keep the peace among the the tribes was another reason for the moniker.
Lacrosse was also known as "The little brother of war" or "baggatawe" as it was the closest thing to combat that warriors had for training and perfecting the art of war.
Apart from being a recreational sport, baggataway had social, political and religious significance. The event played a crucial role in keeping the Iroquois Confederation together for centuries while it kept native warriors robust for combat. Just running across the vast field required strong physical attributes and stamina.
In June 1763 the event was used as a ploy to unite Sauk and Ojibway tribesmen and capture Fort Michilimackinac. The natives held the game for days outside the fort. This naturally brought a large number of men outside of the British guarded fort. They eventually threw the ball over the walls and stormed the garrison.
Men were selected to play as much for their bravery and experience in war as for their athletic prowess. Braves painted themselves red—the color of battle—and wore breechclouts and ornamental feathers. The sticks were carved with pockets made from animal hides and hardened sinew to accommodate a ball. Each tribe may have played differently, but the fundamentals of the collective game evolved into modern-day lacrosse.
Often inter-tribal disputes were settled through the game. Also called “the Creator’s Game” many played to collectively pray and please the gods.
There were elaborate rituals associated with baggataway. Men decorated themselves and their sticks with charcoal and colors. Religious ceremonies held the night before and players participated in a dance ceremony with elaborate clothing.
Players walked into the field amid fanfare and a host of traditional rituals. The end of the event was celebrated with community feast and dance.
The wide-open game eventually became popular among settlers after William George Beers, a dentist in Montreal, added a standardized set of rules in the 1840s. Later, Canadian John Flannery, who founded the U.S. National Amateur Lacrosse Association in 1879, established lacrosse in the United States.
Contemporary lacrosse was dubbed “the fastest game on two feet” in 1921 by a Baltimore Sun sportswriter and has held true ever since.
The first women's lacrosse game took place in Scotland in 1890, and the first American women’s team formed in 1926 at a Baltimore secondary school. Lacrosse was played at the Olympics in 1904 and 1908, and as an exhibition sport in 1928, 1936 and 1948. In 2021, the International Olympic Committee granted the sport full recognition, paving the way for Olympics return in 2028.
Lacrosse is one of five new sports being added to the sport program for the 2028 Olympics joining baseball/softball, cricket, flag football and squash.
In the early 20th century, the modern game of lacrosse gained a foothold in college preparatory schools and in colleges along the Eastern Seaboard. Today it is the fastest-growing sports on the continent. Hard wooden sticks have been replaced with plastic heads (for mesh pockets) and graphite shafts. Players protect themselves from the inherent violence and physical contact with helmets, gloves and arm pads.
People recognize the game’s beauty and speed, which is why it is often still referred to as “the fastest game on two feet.”
Beers is commonly referred to as the Father of Modern Lacrosse for introducing a standard set of rules and order to the game.
Lacrosse, he contested, served as a vehicle for remembrance, an important institution that celebrated the native peoples of North America.
“Long, long after the romantic sons of the forest have passed away, long, long after their sun sinks in the west to rise no more, lacrosse will remind the pale faces of Canada of the noble Indians that once lorded over this continent,” he declared.
