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Lacrosse is one of the oldest organized sports in North America. While at one point it was a field game or ritual played by FIRST NATIONS in Upper Canada, the sport has since branched into four distinct games: men's field lacrosse, women's field lacrosse, box lacrosse, and inter-crosse.

Men's Field LacrosseMen's field lacrosse is played by two teams of 10 on an outdoor field. The most noticeable difference between field lacrosse and other forms is the use of much longer sticks by the three defencemen on each team. The World Lacrosse Championships take place every four years. In 2006, Canada won its first championship in nearly three decades when it defeated the United States of America 15-10. Many players on Canada's national field lacrosse team play box lacrosse as well.

Women's Field LacrosseWomen's field lacrosse is a non-contact sport played with 12 players per team. Ball movement and effective stick handling are key elements of the sport, and the shallowness of the stick's pocket makes catching and maintaining control of the ball more challenging. The first game of women's field lacrosse took place in Scotland in 1890.

Box LacrosseBox lacrosse was developed in the 1930s as a way to take advantage of hockey arenas left vacant during the summer months. Boxla (as it is also known) is sometimes referred to as the fastest sport on two feet. Rebounds and checks off the boards make the game exciting to watch, and a 30-second shot clock that requires a team to either score in half a minute or relinquish the ball to their opponent leads to a high-scoring game. Box lacrosse is usually played on a cement surface.

Professional indoor lacrosse is similar to box lacrosse in many ways, including the number of players per side (6), its use of the 30-second clock and the existence of boards surrounding the playing surface. Professional indoor lacrosse is played on a turf carpet.

Inter-CrosseInter-crosse, the newest form of lacrosse, is a low-risk activity, designed for schools and recreation programs. The easy-to-play indoor game uses molded plastic sticks and a soft, lightweight ball, and teaches participants the fundamentals of lacrosse: scooping, carrying, passing, and catching the ball.

History of LacrosseThe history of lacrosse is difficult to trace, for fact often meshes with fiction, and many aspects of the sport's history have been passed on as folklore. Members of the various ALGONQUIAN language groups referred to earlier versions of the sport as baggattaway, a term often erroneously translated to mean "they bump hips." Baggattaway's true etymology, however, traces to peki'twewin, which means to hit or beat. Strong similarities among the war club, lacrosse stick, and even the drumstick, shown in photos of early OJIBWA implements, further support this translation.

One of the first Canadian-recorded references to the activity of lacrosse appears in the 1636 journals of Jesuit missionary Jean de BRÉBEUF. While many accounts allege that Brébeuf gave the sport its name based on the fact that the stick resembled a bishop's crosier, Brébeuf's own writings mention nothing of the similarity, nor do they provide enough of a description of the activity to ensure that he is referring to a game of lacrosse as we know it.

Regardless, Brébeuf was not, in fact, the first to make reference to a game of lacrosse. The term appears in the 16th-century text Gargantua, by French satirist François Rabelais. There is, however, no indication that the two activities are related, and since the French term "la crosse" can also mean a club or stick, as in "golf club" and "hockey stick," both Brébeuf and Rabelais could have been referring to any other stick game played at those times. What's more, the similarity of both lacrosse and hockey to the ancient Irish ball-and-stick game of hurling cannot be overlooked.

Lacrosse is the stuff from which legends are made. One of the most famous legends involving lacrosse is PONTIAC's Rebellion of 1763, in which the Ottawa chief reportedly staged a game in order to distract British soldiers and gain entry to FORT MICHILIMACKINAC in what is now Michigan.

In the mid-19th century, English speakers in Montréal, in particular a young dentist named William George BEERS, became interested in the North American Indian pastime. Beers, a strong nationalist, went on to design a set of rules for the game, and replaced the deerskin ball with one of hard rubber. He became known as the father of modern lacrosse.

In 1867, the sport made its first appearance in England, when Captain W.B. Johnson travelled with 18 players, largely from the Iroquois Nation but comprising other bands as well, to play in Fulham, near London. In 1876, Beers and a team of 27 Canadians, including 13 Iroquois, played in front of Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. The Queen wrote in her journal, "The game was very pretty to watch."

Mythology surrounding lacrosse still abounds, particularly with respect to its status as the National Sport of Canada. Beers was so enthralled with the sport that he felt it should be the national game, even though, at the time of Confederation, cricket was the most popular summer sport in the land. In 1867 the dominion's first national sport governing body, the National Lacrosse Association of Canada, was formed, adopting as its motto: "Our Country and Our Game."

While there may not have been any official parliamentary record of lacrosse being proclaimed the national sport of Canada, it was certainly the de facto national sport for many decades. In 1994, however, a zealous hockey fan and Member of Parliament, Nelson Riis, introduced a private member's bill that declared hockey the national sport of Canada. After much debate, the bill was amended to make HOCKEY the official winter sport and lacrosse the official summer sport. The National Sports Act of Canada received royal assent in May of that year.

To many lacrosse fans, however, lacrosse has always been the only national sport -- and always will be. Visitors to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in New Westminster, BC, will notice that the bronze plaques listing the Hall of Famers continue to be embossed with, "Canada's National Game."

Lacrosse
Baggataway (lacrosse) was played on fiesta days between families, villages or clans. Here, early lacrosse equipment (sticks and ball) are clearly visible (courtesy Lazare and Parker).

Montreal Lacrosse Club, 1867
If lacrosse was not by law Canada's national game, in the late 19th century its popularity was such that it was in fact the national game (courtesy Notman Archives/29,210-i)

Winnipeg Shamrocks
The Winnipeg Shamrocks. In 1904 the Winnipeg Shamrocks won the Olympic gold medal in one of only two times lacrosse was an Olympic event (1904 and 1908). Just three teams competed that year, the Shamrocks, a Mohawk team from Ontario and an American team. The Americans received the silver and the Mohawks the bronze (courtesy Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame & Museum).

Lacrosse Match
Through the 1880s, lacrosse enjoyed sustained growth, spreading from coast to coast, and by 1900 it was likely Canada's favourite sport, though never, as is often said, the "national sport" (courtesy Library and Archives Canada).

Beers, William George
Beers promoted lacrosse in Canada by claiming that it "knocks timidity and nervousness out of a young man, training him to temperance, confidence and pluck" (courtesy Canada's Sports Hall of Fame).

Lacrosse Team, 1908
Canada's lacrosse team, gold medallists at the 1908 London Olympics. The team defeated Great Britain to win Canada’s second-ever gold in the sport. It would be the last time lacrosse was offered as a medal sport at the Olympics (courtesy Canadian Press Archives).

Author BARBARA K. ADAMSKI

Suggested Reading
W.G. Beers, Lacrosse: The National Game of Canada, revised version (1879); Thomas Vennum Jr, American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War (1994).

Links to Other Sites
Canadian Lacrosse Association
The official website of the Canadian Lacrosse Association.

Living Traditions: Museums Honour the North American Indigenous Games
This extensive multimedia Virtual Museum website showcases the fascinating array of athletic competitions and cultural events staged at the North American Indigenous Games.

Canadian Olympians
The "Canadian Olympians" website offers a searchable images database of Canadian athletes at the Olympics, from the early 1900s through 2002. From Library and Archives Canada.

Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport
Born out of a landmark merger between the Canadian Centre for Drug-Free Sport and Fair Play Canada, the CCES is founded on the principles of fair play and drug-free sport

Native Technology in the Fur Trade
This teacher's guide highlights innovative native technology. From the York Region District School Board.

Four Directions Teachings
Elders and traditional teachers representing the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwe, Mohawk, and Mi’kmaq share teachings about their culture. Animated graphics visualize each of the oral teachings. This website also provides biographies of participants, transcripts, and extensive learning resources for students and their teachers. In English with French subtitles.

Lacrosse: A History of Canada's Game
A CBC Archives feature about the history of the game of lacrosse, Canada's official national sport.

Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame
Check out the website for the “Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame” for profiles of prominent personalities in the game of lacrosse.

CBC Sports
The CBC Sports website. Click on the menu links for the latest sports news and live video streaming of major events.