Lacrosse

In the Gaelic provinces of Britain one can witness a sport where roughness seems inherent to the game – hurling. And there is reason why it should be, when hurling was once an activity used to train young warriors the skills necessary for combat. When not at work, these semi nomadic Celtic tribes indulge themselves on a game that uses a hard long stick and an equally small and hard ball, where body checks using the sticks are the extravagance, and where injuries and even deaths are common happenstance. But this was before. Now, Gaelic hurling is played softer and a lot safer. Though still a rough game, accidents now are almost nonexistent.

In a parallel scenario, a comparable game exists in the United States as early as 1400s. By then, when the US was still called the New World, this game was called in several names by the Native American Indian tribes: called baggatway by the Alqonquin tribes, dehuntshigwa'es by the Onondaga which means “men hit a rounded object, Tewaarathon by the Mohawk, meaning “little war”, da-nah-wah'uwsdi by the Cherokees, which translates to “little brother of war” and baaga`adowe, means “knocking around balls” by the Ojibwe Indians. It was aptly called too, since the game was really a little war, or the fitting metaphor little brother of war, and the participants did knock around balls, be it a ball fashioned from deerskin or heads of the enemy. Like the Celts and the game of hurling, this game is played as a conditioning to the warriors for combat, a less bloody way of resolving disputes, or simply as pastime indulged by friendly neighboring tribes, despite the potential of deaths and maims at both parties.

The earliest form of the game was played by two groups of strong men, with sometimes the strength of both groups reaching to 1,000 men. The playing field could occupy a large radius, up to several miles in dimensions where the players would be on horseback, or the playing field could be just kilometers in length and the players would be on foot. These participants struggle against the opposing team to hit the ball on each other’s goal. And the duration of the game can extend up to three days in length at most.

Due to the circumstance, this activity was never soft. Oftentimes the player’s focus would be to injure, maim or kill the opposition so that there would be easy work towards the goal. Grave injuries are so commonplace that by the end of the day services are held for the deaths that occurred during the day’s game.

Even with a game with so much violence in its repertoire, it was nevertheless a game look forwarded to. And it was fun obviously, since this game was very often played. Until a French missionary named Jean de Brébeuf witness an Iroquois game in 1636 and christened the bloody sport as Lacrosse, the moniker stemming from the La crosse, where the clubs used for the game looks like the crook of a shepherd’ crosier.

By 1800, French pioneers living in the America began playing Lacrosse but as a softer but still competitive sport. Now the focus of the game was purely on goals, and so began the major reshaping of the game, the platform of ferociousness slowly molded into something else that’s more careful yet still rough.

By 1856, Canadian dentist William George Beers founded the Montreal Lacrosse Club, and Lacrosse then propelled itself to the 20th century. Rules of the game became formalized, and high schools and colleges began competing by 1900s. Lacrosse entered the Olympic scene by 1928 and 1932.

As of today, Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the West, its need for speed and alertness wooed athletes to the game, and its climatic proceedings earning it solid recognition as a spectacular spectator sport. In professional scene, Major League Lacrosse was inaugurated at 2001 and had since then had started captivating fans to its high adrenaline game.