The Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team, comprising players from the Six Nations that make up the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, confederacy in the north east of North America, are so far missing from the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, despite being among the top three teams in the world and boasting some of the sport’s best players.
World Games organisers originally only invited nations who were members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which the Iroquois hope to one day be a part of.
However, under pressure from many associations including Hong Kong, China, USA and Canada, the World Games released a statement over the weekend saying they would leave entry criteria in the hands of governing body World Lacrosse, which is likely to extend an invitation to the Iroquois Nationals.
“We were not even informed that invitations went out,” said Leo Nolan, executive director and board member of Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse, who is of Akwesasne Mohawk Nation descent and raised on the Onondaga Nation. “We heard from third parties.
“It’s the first time men’s lacrosse is in the World Games. We are third in the world in field lacrosse, second in indoor lacrosse, we’ve won 11 medals of late. Our expectation is that we will be in the World Games so we are in negotiations with World Lacrosse and other international bodies,” added Nolan, who thanked the Hong Kong and China associations for their support.
Sport is often described as a “religion” in some countries – football in Brazil and cricket in India. For the Haudenosaunee, lacrosse was a gift from the Creator and leaving them out of the World Games is like denying them their right to worship.
Board member Rex Lyons, a former player who is of the Onondaga Nation, said lacrosse is an integral part of Iroquois spirituality.
“Once you’re involved in it, it’s a lifestyle,” said Lyons, who was part of the first Iroquois Nationals team from 1983. “Lacrosse is part of our cosmology, a huge part of our culture and has a very spiritual aspect to it. And that’s one of the things we bring to the table in its healing and medicinal qualities.
“A lot of the issues we run up against are hundreds of years old. We’ve been going down this river trying to be self-determined. You don’t ask permission to be sovereign. You are as sovereign as you are.
“So we produce our own passports, this is our travel document, take it or leave it. We were offered dual citizenship with the US, and of course, you can’t have a treaty with yourselves so we said, ‘thanks but no thanks’.
“We always stick to our fundamental principle of who we are, of being self-determined and lacrosse has been a very extraordinary vehicle for us to implement our sovereignty.”
The Iroquois are among the most influential Native American confederacies in the US and Canada. They comprise six nations – Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. They have their own language, their own passports and enjoy sovereign nation treaties with the likes of the UK, the Netherlands, France and the US.
The Iroquois boast some of the best lacrosse players in the world, led by the Thompson brothers Lyle, Miles, Jerome and Jeremy, with 27-year-old Lyle holding the record for most points in the US Division 1 competition. A World Games without such quality players would diminish its value, something that the Hong Kong and China lacrosse bodies acknowledge.
“[The] HKLA recognises the Iroquois Nationals and the Haudenaosaunee people as both the originators of lacrosse and as the true ambassadors of the sport,” the HKLA said in a statement. “The way we experience the game today is a result of the generosity and willingness of the Haudenosaunee people to share their game with the world. Excluding the Iroquois Nationals from the 2022 World Games reflects a disregard for these ideals of inclusivity, that are so fundamental to the culture of lacrosse.”
Dave Bray, a board member from the Seneca Nation, said a petition to put the Iroquois Nationals into the World Games was launched in early July by a Native American in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has since been signed by around 50,000 people.
“We have worldwide support, we’ve had statements of support coming in from the US, Canada, Latvia, Hong Kong and China and it’s been awesome to get these letters,” Bray said. “So we’re working with World Lacrosse, with World Games, to get us included into the World Games.
“Through these efforts we’re hoping it will be done soon. We are optimistic, we are diplomatic, we are working with them, explaining, re-educating people about our distinctness, our sovereignty.
“Our government is probably one of the oldest governments in the world, and certainly, we represent, in some respects, indigenous people around the world,” Bray added.
“Hong Kong national coach Chad Fairfoull was born just south of the Six Nations, which straddles the border of Canada and US on the east. He said a World Games without the Iroquois Nationals would be meaningless.
“The whole lacrosse community wants them to play in all world lacrosse events,” Fairfoull said. “Because we all know that that’s were the game came from, that’s the history and for them to not be eligible to us makes no sense.
“They are number three in the world and that’s amazing considering they have maybe 500 players, probably closer to 300, a very small pool of players compared to Canada, which has 20,000 and the US, which has 200,000.”
For the Haudenosaunee, it goes back to the stick and the way their players embrace it through life and death, whereas for others it is merely functional.
The stick represents everything that exists on Earth that they need to play “the Creator’s game” – from the hickory tree that provides the wood to the interlocking weaves on the netting that connects human, animal and the plant kingdoms and holds the ball, which administers the medicine.
The sacred stick, for the Haudenosaunee, is more than a piece of sports equipment. It is their birthright, it’s what they cling on to when confronting life’s trials and it remains firmly in grasp when they go to their graves.
“We have world-class players even though we have a very small pool,” Lyons said. “It’s because we grew up with a stick in our hand.”
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