Lacrosse in Australia

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Lacrosse is a team sport in which opposing teams use a netted stick, officially known as a crosse, to direct the game ball towards the opponent's goal. Lacrosse is an adaptation of a tribal game originally played by Native Americans in what is now the United States and Canada. There are a number of versions of lacrosse played in Australia:

*Men's field lacrosse and women's field lacrosse are the most popular variations of the game internationally as well as in Australia. Field lacrosse is played outdoors on a rectangular field about the same size as a football (soccer) field. Despite being based on the same game, the rules for men's and women's lacrosse have diverged, with differences in boundary sizes, number of players on the field, game restarts, stick pocket depth, contact rules and mandatory protective equipment.

*Box lacrosse, originating from Canada in the 1930s and almost exclusively a men's sport, is another popular variation but with many similarities in rules to ice hockey, due to it being played on the concrete surface of ice hockey arenas.

*Finally, modified, non-contact versions of lacrosse, for example sofcrosse and modcrosse, exist for promotion and development of lacrosse in school clinics and off-season social leagues.

Woodville Warriors attack player.

Contents

1 History of Men's Lacrosse

1.1 Victoria
1.2 South Australia
1.3 Western Australia

2 History of Women's Lacrosse

2.1 Pre-War
2.2 Re-establishment
2.3 Growth

3 Development of Lacrosse

3.1 Visiting Canadians
3.2 Interstate Competition
3.3 World War II
3.4 Visiting Americans
3.5 Tour to USA

4 Lacrosse in Australia today
5 See also
6 External links

History of Men's Lacrosse

Victoria

The pioneer of lacrosse in Victoria (and Australia as a whole) was a Canadian, Lambton L Mount. He came to the Victorian goldfields as a fourteen year old with his family in 1853 but it was not until 1875 that he was moved to revive his early boyhood memories of lacrosse. After watching the football final between Carlton and Melbourne in that year it occurred to him that lacrosse was a superior game.

In April of 1876 Mount wrote to the Australasian Newspaper to announce that he was arranging to import forty lacrosse sticks from Canada and intended to start lacrosse and establish the Melbourne Lacrosse Club. He succeeded and the first practice match of this club took place on 22nd June 1876 between 15-20 players at Albert Park. The Melbourne club continued to promote the sport and arranged matches between the "Reds" and "Blues" in Albert Park during 1877-78. By 1879, four clubs had been formed with some 120 players. These four clubs Melbourne, Fitzroy, South Melbourne and Carlton formed the Victorian Lacrosse Association in July 1879 for the purpose of coordinating matches. His Excellency, the Governor of Victoria The Most Hon G A C Phipps, was the inaugural Patron.

South Australia

Lacrosse began in South Australia in 1885. Practice was held by the Adelaide Lacrosse Club in the South Parklands. By 1887 North Adelaide (who still exist today), Noarlunga and Knightsbridge (located in what is now Leabrook) had joined Adelaide to play regular games in the city, and the South Australian Lacrosse Association (now Lacrosse SA) was formed in 1888.

Adelaide University Lacrosse Club. 1896 premiership team

Lacrosse soon spread around the fledgling province, and the game grew in popularity in the small city of Adelaide and through the country towns, with large crowds recorded at the race course fixtures. Teams were formed at Port Augusta, Port Germein, Jamestown and Riverton. Nobel Prize winning Professor Bragg, a founding member of the North Adelaide club established University in 1889.

Western Australia

The introduction of lacrosse into Western Australia was the direct consequence of gold discoveries in the Eastern Goldfields. The earliest records of playing lacrosse in the goldfields suggest that the game was first played in 189?. It was not until 1895, when two players from the eastern states, F Parsons and F Wingrove, arrived in Perth that formal lacrosse began in the coastal plains. These two lacrosse pioneers helped form two Perth clubs - Perth and Fremantle in 1896. Two further clubs Mercantile (based on a merchandising warehouse) and Cottesloe (later Banks) were formed in 1897. A formal competition commenced in 1898 with Mercantile winning the first premiership in that year.

During 1899, a "Coastal" team visited the Goldfields where local devotee, Arthur O'Connor, was nurturing the sport - principally from Coolgardie. This exhibition game became a regular feature of the Western Australian sporting calendar till 1914, when a downturn in the gold industry and the outbreak of World War I signalled the end of the Goldfields team. Later attempts to revive the game in Kalgoorlie in the 1930s and in the 1980s both failed.

History of Women's Lacrosse

Pre-War

In 1936 the Victorian Women's Amateur Lacrosse Associaion was formed. Games were centred around teams from the YWCA and Williamstown. By 1940, war time conditions saw the sport go into recesssion.

Re-establishment

It took until 1962 for women's lacrosse in Victoria to recommence. With support from Mal Taylor of the Williamstown Lacrosse Club 4 teams were formed (Williamstown 2, Footscray and Malvern). Mrs Joy Parker (former secretary of the Victorian Women's Amateur Lacrosse Associaion) became president of the newly reformed women's association. With lacrosse sticks in Australia in short supply, the South Australian Women's Lacrosse Association sold 12 women's sticks to the Victorian association for £4.

In 1962, Mal Taylor noted an advertisement in an Adelaide paper for women to play lacrosse. Mal used this as an avenue to create an interstate match. Under the guidance of Mrs Joy Parker, the Australian Women's Lacrosse Council (AWLC) was formed. Mrs Parker became the inaugural President following the first interstate match between Victoria and South Australia with Mrs Titter Secretary and Mrs L Rolley Treasurer.

In 1965, the Men's Lacrosse carnival was held in Perth, Western Australia and the AWLC were invited to play their annual interstate match between Victoria and South Australia during this carnival. The Western Australians were persuaded to form an Association and at the same time to join the AWLC. (Coincidentally they also entered into what became the first Women's Lacrosse Championship).

Growth

In 1975, the Tasmanian Women's Lacrosse Association was formed in Hobart. In 1978, Tasmania became a full member of the AWLC and entered their first official team in the Championships in Perth in 1978.

The Senior National Championships have been held on a yearly basis since 1978 with South Australia reigning supreme from 1985 through until 1996 when Victoria defeated them for the first time in the final for 12 years; a monumental win for Victoria and an end to a 12 year awesome victory stretch by South Australia.

In 1970, the first Under 16 National Championship was held and in 1982, the first U19 interstate match was played between South Australia and Victoria at the Senior Nationals in Adelaide.

Development of Lacrosse

Visiting Canadians

Interstate Competition

List of Australian Lacrosse National Champions

World War II

Visiting Americans

Tour to USA