Lacrosse originated among the Algonquian tribes of the St. Lawrence Valley in eastern Canada. For this reason, it is often described as the oldest organized sport in North America. The game has two forms. Field lacrosse is played outdoors on a ground that is 110 by 64 m, by teams of 10 players each. A hard rubber ball is passed and thrown between players by means of large, curved sticks with a pocket of netting or webbing. The object is to score points by tossing the ball into the opposing team's goal.
The field game is played in England, Australia and New Zealand and by colleges along the eastern seaborn of the US. Although this form is Canadian in origin, box lacrosse or "boxla" is more commonly played in Canada. In the latter form, 7-man teams play on an indoor surface the size of a standard hockey arena.
Historians have recorded that the French missionary Jean de Brebeuf first saw the game in 1638 and called it la crosse because the sticks reminded him of a bishop's crozier or crosse. The Indian term for the original game was baggattaway, derived from the Ojibwa word pagadowewin or "ball." Thus, white men named the game after the stick used, while the Indians named it after the ball. Lacrosse had an important role in Indian society, as it held religious significance and functioned in the training of young warriors. Since wagers were frequently taken on the outcome of matches between tribes, it also could play an economic role, raising or lowering a tribe's fortunes. Indian baggattaway was a rough melee. Matches could last 2 or 3 days and goals, marked by bushes or trees, could be 450 m or more apart.
The arrival of French and later English fur traders and the consequent opening of trade routes throughout North America may have helped spread the game to other Indian Nations. Perhaps the most famous incident in the game's history occurred in 1763. Ojibwa used the game as a cover to gain entry to Fort Michilimackinac and massacred the English soldiers camped inside. In 1834 a team of Caughnawaga first demonstrated the game before a white audience on the St. Pierre racecourse in Montreal. The first all-white lacrosse team was formed in 1842 as part of the Montreal Olympic Athletic Club. Next year, the first game between whites and Indians took place. Until 1867 lacrosse's growth was slow and uneven and largely confined to Montreal and the towns of the Ottowa Valley.
One of the game's primary exponents at this time was George Beers, who in 1860 at age 17 had been goalkeeper in a match played before the Prince of Wales. The same year, he set down lacrosse's first code of rules. A strong Canadian nationalist, Beers saw lacrosse as a way to encourage fitness and bravery amoung the young men of the new nation. In September 1867 he organized a convention of Kingston, Ontario, at which the National Lacrosse Association was formed. Beers was an ardent promoter of the sport and it was he who gave rise to the enduring misconception that lacrosse is the officially recognized national game of Canada.
If lacrosse is not by law Canada's national game, it can be said that by 1889 its popularity was such that it was in fact the national game. Through the 1880s, it enjoyed sustained growth, spreading from coast to coast, and by 1900 its position seemed secure. It was also beginning to be played outside of Canada. In 1868 the first international match had been held in Buffalo, NY. Tours of Canadian teams to Englad were organized in 1876 and 1883 to introduce the game there.
In 1901 Governor General Lord Minto presented the Minto cup for the Senior amateur Canadian championship. Within 3 years it had become emblematic of the professional championship and in 1910, the gold Mann Cup was donated for the Canadian amateur title. Although Canadian teams won Olympic gold medals in 1904 and 1908, the sport during this period was embroiled in unending disputes over professionalism.
Finally, in 1912, the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada stepped in to form the Canadian Amateur Lacrosse Association. By then, lacrosse was being plyed by only a small portion of the population. It had no minor system to develop young players and was not played int he country's schools, as was Football. Following WWI, Baseball replaced lacrosse as a summer sport. The automobile's growing popularity affected the game as well, as it took potential players and spectators out of the cities on weekends and holidays.
After struggling with these problems, the Canadian Amateur Lacrosse Association decided to adopt box lacrosse as its official game. It was hoped this move would increase the game's popularity, as well as make use of unoccupied arenas during the summer months. An attempt was made to start up a professional lacrosse league in Montreal and Toronto, but by 1937 the professional game was gone and the Minto Cup was placed in junior competition.
The game is now largely played on Canada's West Coast in medium-sized towns in Ontario. In fact, both national championships are held alternately in BC and Ontario. The switch to box lacrosse also effectively isolated the Canadian game from international competition. Eventually, supremacy by Canadians in the game they invented was severely challenged.
In 1967, a world field lacrosse championship was held in Canada as part of the centennial celebrations. The US won. The best Canada could do at the 1974 world lacrosse series in Australia was a 2nd-place tie. In 1978, however, at the first true world championship, in Stockport, England, the Canadian team won after a dramatic last-minute goal in the final game. However, the United States has not lost a single game in World Championship play. Canada came close in 1998 to upsetting the Americans' perfect record by taking the fina game of the championship into overtime. The United States prevailed, nevertheless, winning with a 15-14 score.