Native Americans and the Sport of Lacrosse
A recent news item appeared which stated that the UK government had not given entry clearance to the Iroquois lacrosse team because they did not have proper American travel documents. It turns out that the Iroquois lacrosse team, a Native American team, is one of the best in the world and the sport of lacrosse was actually invented by the Native Americans many years before the Pilgrims showed up. It was played then as it is now and that is also one of the reasons that it is mostly played in North America; it was a tribal game played by the indigenous people of the country.
It seems the Native Americans played a lot of versions of stick and ball games before the Europeans arrived. Lacrosse was one of these sports and it was different to the other sports played with sticks because players had to catch a ball with a stick that had a net at one end. It was a very popular game in those early days and it seems to be used as a form of war training. The game was called ‘the little brother of war’ because of its strategies and the tactical manoeuvres that were required. The game was very much a part of Native American tribal culture and was sometimes used to settle disputes. If two tribes had a dispute over a village issue then a game of lacrosse would be played between the two villages and the winner would get the decision in their favour. Once a game was played that had almost 600 players and the playing surface stretched across two villages. A game of that size would probably have been played to settle the biggest dispute that any village had ever seen.
Traditionally the stick that was played with was made out of wood and was shaped and fashioned by a skilled craftsman. These traditional sticks are still made today using the same process that was used in the early days of the sport. The process to make the playing sticks was very interesting because the craftsman would choose the best knot free trees he could find and then he would plant another tree when he picked one to use, thereby maintaining the circle of life. Today many Iroquois players prefer to use the traditional style of stick because they feel it is the pure method of playing the game and they feel they should uphold their ancestral traditions.
The Iroquois lacrosse team is one of the best in the world and it is very strange but they were refused British entry clearance to go to the UK to play in a tournament. The reason was because the team refuses to use American passports although they can and instead they have documentation from the Iroquois Confederacy. This is very strange because if the UK government looks a little bit into the past and see what happened to these people who were brutally pushed off their own land by invading Europeans and Pilgrims from England, they might show them a little bit more sympathy and respect. They are very proud people and they have the right to use their own passports, but the problem happened because the UK government does not recognise these passports. It is sad but hopefully the issue will be cleared up soon and the team will be allowed to play in the tournament. This is not an issue of documentation but one of sports because it involves one of the best lacrosse teams wanting to take part in a tournament.
The team is so good that they secured a deal with Nike to sponsor the team and promote the Iroquois brand. The huge apparel and equipment company felt that the Iroquois brand could gain worldwide recognition and it would bring in serious revenues for Nike. The company estimated that sales of apparel and tickets would come to $9 million by 2011. The team’s brand and presence is slowly growing and they are becoming a very popular team all over the world. Their rise to the top of their sport is happening slowly and steadily, if it is not hampered by strange visa policies of countries they try to play in. Lacrosse is a very interesting and popular game that has evolved from being an indigenous, tribal sport to becoming one of the most popular sports in North America and is slowly spreading all over the world.
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