Lacrosse: A Canadian Story

Lacrosse has the prestigious moniker of being Canada’s national sport. Its history dates back 500 years, preceding hockey by centuries and is considered the original aboriginal North American game. Known as ‘baggataway’ or ‘tewaarathon’ it was considered to be “The Creator’s Game” because the First Nations people believed it to have been given to them by the Creator to play for his amusement. A recreational sport, it was also used to train young Native warriors for battle and settled disputes between feuding tribes.

By the 17th century, French colonists who were arriving in eastern Canada, witnessed the Mohawks playing baggataway. Loving the sport themselves, they changed the name to Lacrosse. The name came from the way the stick appeared to look like a Shepard’s crook, a crosier carrier by the French bishops. In the 19th century, a Montreal Dentist named William George Beers (interestingly enough) formed the first non-native club, the Montreal Lacrosse Club. He installed standardized rules a regulations and replaced the hair stuffed deerskin ball with an Indian rubber one. During that time Lacrosse gained popularity across the nation. Games would draw crowds of 5000-10000 fans at a time, as eighty teams from every province competed across Canada. Because of the passion for the game by both First Nations and Europeans, it was a link between the native and European cultures cultivating an acceptance by both into society.

In the early 20th century, the Governor General of Canada, Lord Minto, donated a silver cup. This Minto cup became the symbol of the Canadian championship, and is still used in the junior ranks as the coveted symbol of supremacy. By the 1930s lacrosse was so popular, promoters melded lacrosse and hockey together to form Indoor Lacrosse, or Boxla. A natural response to the limitations the Canadian winters provided. Indoor Lacrosse proved a faster more action packed game which was quickly accepted by all which led to the end of field lacrosse.
Today, lacrosse has four separate groupings- box lacrosse, men’s field, women’s field and inter-lacrosse ( a non-contact version which can be adapted to age and skill level). In this version, players use a molded plastic stick and a much softer ball. It's generally used recreationally and for young children in school leagues.

In 1994 lacrosse was re-confirmed by Parliament as the National Summer Sport of Canada. It has been played by many Canadians, every culture, religion and class. Both Pierre Trudeau and Lester B. Pearson played lacrosse in their youth. Other athletes played lacrosse as well; NHL greats Wayne Gretzky and Conn Smythe, NFL great Jim Brown and one of the greatest all-round athletes of the 20th century Jim Thope.

By the end of the 20th century into the early 21st century, lacrosse experienced an international growth. Sadly, due to new regulations by the Olympic Federation it was not recognized to be a part of the Olympic Games. Thus, in 1967 the International Lacrosse Federation was started and has played every four years since 1974, similar to the World Cup of Soccer. Because of the world wide success of lacrosse many people in the lacrosse community want to re-include lacrosse to the Olympic Games. Unfortunately the exclusion of the game is in the Olympic charter. It states that the sport must be played in at least 75 countries in order to be an Olympic event. At the 1998 world championship, eleven teams participated, by 2002 five more countries competed. In 2006, the World Lacrosse championship was held in London, Ontario, Canada and twenty one countries participated. It was won by Canada in front of 7,700 fans. We can only hope that by these statistics the game of lacrosse is not far away from re-entering the Olympic Games.