The lesser-known history of lacrosse, a uniquely American sport

Key Concepts

• Lacrosse Origins: Ancient Indigenous game, over 1000 years old, with spiritual, medicinal, and political purposes.
• Iroquois Nationals: The official national lacrosse team of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, founded to reclaim and represent their ancestral game.
• Appropriation of Lacrosse: The process by which European settlers adopted and modified lacrosse, often excluding its Indigenous creators.
• Sovereignty and Recognition: The ongoing struggle for the Haudenosaunee to have their nationhood and their team recognized in international sports.
• Lacrosse as a Cultural Mirror: The sport's ability to reflect the history and cultural interactions of North America.

The Deep Roots of Lacrosse

Scott Price, author of "The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse," highlights that most people's understanding of lacrosse is limited to the collegiate game, culminating in the NCAA championships on Memorial Day. However, for the Iroquois people, lacrosse possesses a profound depth that extends far beyond mere recreation or exercise.

• Ancient Origins: The game was created approximately 1000 years ago.
• Multifaceted Purposes: Initially, it served as recreation, a method for settling boundary disputes, and a means to train warriors. Crucially, it was also played to entertain the Creator and to heal the community.
• Tribal Prevalence: A stick and ball game was common among all tribes, characterized by a round, webbed head of the stick.
• Spiritual and Political Dimensions: The Iroquois play a "medicine game" and engage in it for sovereignty and a political mission.

Appropriation and Erasure

In the late 1800s, as the Mohawk were giving exhibitions in Canada, a future dentist named George Beers took it upon himself to "appropriate" lacrosse from Native Americans. Price notes that lacrosse was originally "part of the red Indians trading for war." Initially, Canada and the U.S. were the dominant lacrosse powers. Price's extensive research, including 370 interviews, reveals that even those not directly connected to the Native American history of the game experience a "dreamy look on their face," a "dream of the United States."

The Founding of the Iroquois Nationals

Oren Lyons, described as one of the great Indigenous activists of the last 50 years, co-founded the Iroquois Nationals in 1983 with custom stick maker West Pattersen. Lyons was approached by the coach of Syracuse University, who suggested they play a field game. Lyons' response, which Price calls "tragically... one of the quietly tragic things in sports history," was that they "don't really know how to play field anymore, we don't have a field team." This realization spurred Lyons to correct this deficiency and establish the Iroquois Nationals.

• Early Struggles: The first game against Syracuse was "woeful," resulting in a significant loss (23-7).
• Remarkable Improvement: Since then, the Iroquois Nationals have consistently improved, achieving the rank of third in the world by 2023.

Sovereignty and International Recognition

Lacrosse was accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2023 as a host city sport for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. However, the IOC does not recognize the Haudenosaunee nation. They follow the United Nations framework, meaning the Haudenosaunee are welcome to try out for the U.S. or Canadian teams.

• Haudenosaunee Stance: Price emphasizes the difficulty for a team and people traveling with their own passports to accept playing for the U.S. or Canada, especially given their commitment to sovereignty. He states, "You can imagine for a team and people traveling in their own passports and shown no compunction about pulling out of championships if their sovereignty is not recognized, you can imagine how they feel about playing for the U.S. or Canada, it's not going to happen."

Lacrosse as a Cultural Reflection

Price argues that lacrosse, more than any other sport, reflects the culture of the North American continent and its history over the last thousand years.

• Historical Context: Baseball and football are seen as variations of games, whereas lacrosse dates back 1000 years.
• Cultural Synthesis and Conflict: The sport encapsulates the convergence of white society with Native American cultures, the appropriation, and what some consider the theft of Native American land, and the genocide that occurred.
• Exclusion: Lacrosse was appropriated from Native Americans, and for a period, Native Americans were excluded from the sport.

Conclusion

The video underscores the profound historical, spiritual, and political significance of lacrosse for the Haudenosaunee people. It highlights their ongoing efforts to reclaim their ancestral game through the Iroquois Nationals and their struggle for national recognition in the international sports arena. The narrative of lacrosse serves as a powerful metaphor for the broader history of cultural exchange, appropriation, and the assertion of sovereignty in North America.