Lacrosse in Australia

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Lacrosse is a minority sport in Australia. It has a long and proud history dating back to 1876,[1] with a small but dedicated community of participants and volunteers. The established centres for the game are in the greater metropolitan areas of Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. In these cities there are organised Saturday field lacrosse competitions for men and women at senior and junior levels, played over the winter months (April until September). In the off-season, there are informal box lacrosse and sofcrosse competitions, though the majority of players in Australia are foremostly of the field lacrosse type. Some lacrosse is also played in Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart, although it is very much at the developmental level.

At a national level there are separate governing bodies for men's and women's lacrosse. In April 2007 Lacrosse Australia announced that the Australian Lacrosse Association had been formed. The ALA, a not for profit limited company, will bring together the men's and women's national bodies over a two year transition period. [2]. The move to a unified national body was precipitated by the withholding of funds by the Australian federal government. The move to a unified national body has yet to be ratified by the peak body for women's lacrosse in Victoria and Western Australia.

Woodville Warriors attack player.
Woodville Warriors attack player.

Contents

[edit] History of Men's Lacrosse

[edit] Victoria

The pioneer of lacrosse in Victoria (and Australia as a whole) was a Canadian, Lambton L Mount.[3] 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 22 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.

[edit] South Australia

Lacrosse began in South Australia in 1883[4]. 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
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.[5]

[edit] 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 the early 1890s. 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.

Queensland state team versus New South Wales; Sydney Cricket Ground, circa 1930
Queensland state team versus New South Wales; Sydney Cricket Ground, circa 1930

[edit] Queensland

Lacrosse was played in Queensland during the 1880s. The Queensland Lacrosse Union is listed in Pugh's Almanac and Directory of 1885. In 1888 the Savage Lacrosse Club held a smoke social and annual meeeting [6]). Photographic records exist of interstate teams in 1889, 1904, 1905 and 1906. In July and August of 1906 two interstate games were played against Victoria, the first game was won by Victoria 16 - 12. In the second game Queensland defeated Victoria 15 - 6.

In 1907 there were various lacrosse clubs in the Brisbane metropolitan area. Photographs dated 1907 are labelled with the club names of Ottawa, Mohican, Delaware, Buffalo, Iroquois, Toombul and Wallaroo.

The Kalinga Park sporting grounds were opened in 1910 with the support of local sporting clubs including the Kalinga Lacrosse Club.[7] By the 1920s lacrosse was being played at Norman Park after being promoted by the Wilson family of Waratah Foundry fame.

The Nudgee Lacrosse Club also had a field at the Nudgee Boorah Ring in the 1920s and 30s.

Despite this early success, lacrosse in Queensland was reduced to a small group of enthusiasts in the post World War II era. By the 1980s all existing lacrosse clubs had disappeared. In the 1990s and at the turn of the century, lacrosse was played on an occasional basis in the Brisbane, Surfers Paradise and Townsville areas. A Queensland Lacrosse Association was in operation with the support of expatriate Victorians and local enthusiasts. The most notable tournament of the modern era is the Paradise Tournament created by Ray Trevaskis, played continuously since 1988.[8]

[edit] New South Wales

Lacrosse is mentioned as being played in New South Wales (NSW) as early as 1884.[9] The Manly Daily[10] records the local lacrosse club as having won their season in 1930. Lacrosse games were played on the Sydney Cricket ground in the 1930s;[11] a NSW state team existed during this same period.[12] The sport was sufficiently strong for a visiting Canadian team from Vancouver to tour Sydney in 1934.[13] Lacrosse was also played at Glebe prior to World War II. [14]

Lacrosse was revived in NSW during the early 1990s by a small dedicated group of men and women. Initially this involved games of mixed lacrosse at Neutral Bay. A mens team competed successfully at the Paradise Lacrosse Tournament on the Gold Coast under the name "Basically Naked". Junior lacrosse began with a pilot at Gordon with the employment of two development officers, this saw up to 60 juniors playing modified lacrosse, some of whom went on to play the full version of the game. With the employment of a Development Officer by Lacrosse Australia, based in Sydney, it was hoped that the junior and senior games would take off. Teams/clubs were set up in Pennant Hills, Concord, Woolahra Mosman and Sutherland. Games were more often than not held at Centennial Park in Sydney, although in the beginning the venue was Edgecliffe. With some exhibition games held at Concord, Mosman and Sutherland.

These competitions were dominated by mens games and the make up of most teams were ex lacrosse players from interstate/overseas. Only Sutherland and the Hills teams had a strong roster of new players with Sutherland having only two ex players in their squad. The competition was dominated by the Woolahra team who boasted a strong list of ex state and national players. Although they had a roster of new or junior players they were rarely utilised during games as the emphasis was more on winning than developing players.

The mens competition finally died out with a number of reason being put forward: a new board which failed to recognise the population centres of Sydney and persisted with an inner city competition, the lack of support to junior players and clubs with strong junior lists and the poor treatment of volunteers.[citation needed] Many saw the persistence of the new board to maintain the competition at Centennial park as a poor option. Apart from Woollahra and Mosman other teams had to travel a considerable distance. The Sutherland team who were mainly juniors therefore had to rely on parents or adult members to transport them, something which saw their roster reduce every Saturday. Although the outlying teams were progressively building up their junior ranks, with junior comps in Sutherland and Hills area there was little interest from the board in supporting these ventures.[citation needed]

[edit] History of Women's Lacrosse

[edit] 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 recession.[15]

[edit] 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).

[edit] 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.

[edit] Interstate Competition

Interstate competition, a legacy from the time when Australia consisted of its separate colonies, is a feature of many sports in Australia, lacrosse being no exception. Competitions are typically held as an annual week-long carnival, with the venue rotated between states. The "Nationals" are a highlight of the Australian lacrosse calendar, and feature the best lacrosse talent in the country with games played to a very high standard.

In 1910 the first Australian interstate lacrosse carnival was held at the MCG. [16].

At the senior and under 19 age level, each state sends its select representative team. At under 17 and under 15 level, a national tournament exists whereby member states send anywhere between one and three representative teams, in an effort to level out the competition between stronger and developing lacrosse regions. At present there are national carnivals at the senior women, under 19 men, under 19 women, under 17 boys, under 17 girls, under 15 boys and under 15 girls levels. Often a number of these events are held concurrently at the same venue.

The Australian Lacrosse League was introduced in 2004 to replace the senior men's national carnival by instead having state teams play each other twice, with double-headers (a Saturday and Sunday game) played over three weekends. Each state hosts one double-header and travels for the other. The two teams with the best win/loss record over the round-robin tournament progress to the final, played on the weekend following the last round-robin match. Currently, the strongest lacrosse-playing states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia compete in the ALL, but the long-term goal of the league is to include a team from every Australian state.

The first Australian Club Lacrosse Championships was contested in Adelaide on 7 June 2008. The women's championship was won by the Newport Ladies' Lacrosse Club of Victoria, while the men's championship was won by the Woodville Lacrosse Club of South Australia. The success of the inaugural event may lead to club national championships to become a permanent and regular fixture on the Australian Lacrosse calendar.

[edit] Australia in International Competition

In 1907 Australia's first international lacrosse match against Canada was played at the MCG before a crowd of 30,000. [17]

Australia has an important presence in the international scene, consistently finishing in the top three of the men's world championships. Although they have never won the trophy, they finished third in the last three world championships including most recently in 2006 (behind Canada and the United States). They have also been the runner-up at the first three Under-19 Men's World Lacrosse Championship.

Australia's national women's teams have fared even better. Despite having only a small fraction of the playing pool of other countries, Australia are the current world champions, having overall won two senior women's world championships (in 1986 and in 2005), as well as the inaugural Under 19 world championship in 1995. The main rival to Australia in international women's competition is the United States, who have won more more world championships despite Australia having a winning record against them in overall world cup competition.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.2008worldlax.com/pdfs/TeamAustralia.pdf
  2. ^ Latest news from Lacrosse Australia
  3. ^ MCC - Lacrosse
  4. ^ Sport
  5. ^ www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070396b.htm
  6. ^ Brisbane Courier, 23 Oct. 1888, p. 5 col. 1
  7. ^ Opening Kalinga Park, 1910 [1]
  8. ^ Paradise Lacrosse Tournament [2]
  9. ^ Percival H. Gilbert, "The New South Wales sporting annual, 1884: containing a full account of the past season's cricket, football, aquatics, lacrosse, bicycling & athletics", 1884
  10. ^ On A Shoestring: The Depression & 1930s in Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah
  11. ^ Ted Hood, "Hood Photographic Collection, State Librbary of New South Wales; Sydney Cricket Ground 1930 - 1940
  12. ^ NSW Lacrosse Team - Hood Collection State Library of New South Wales [3]
  13. ^ Vancouver Lacrosse Team - Hood Collection State Library of New South Wales [4]
  14. ^ http://www.glebehockey.org.au/index.asp?Menu=History
  15. ^ SportingPulse Homepage for Lacrosse Victoria
  16. ^ http://www.mcg.org.au/content/document/00000206-src.pdf
  17. ^ http://www.mcg.org.au/content/document/00000206-src.pdf
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