First Nations Lacrosse Association (formerly Iroquois Lacrosse Association) is the governing body of

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

for

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

within Canada and

Native American tribe In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, tribal nation, or similar concept is any extant or historical clan, tribe, band, nation, or other group or community of Native Americans in the Unit ...

s within the United States. The First Nations Lacrosse Association (FNLA) oversees five national teams, the

Iroquois men's national lacrosse team The Haudenosaunee Nationals Men’s Lacrosse Team, formerly known as the Iroquois Nationals, represents the Iroquois Confederacy in international field lacrosse competition. They are currently ranked third in the world by World Lacrosse after wi ...

, the Iroquois men's national under-19 lacrosse team, the Haudenosaunee women's national lacrosse team, the

Haudenosaunee women's national under-19 lacrosse team The Haudenosaunee women's national under-19 lacrosse team represents the Iroquois Confederacy in international women's lacrosse competitions. They are currently ranked tenth by World Lacrosse following the 2019 world championship. The Haudenosa ...

, and the

Iroquois national indoor lacrosse team The Haudenosaunee Nationals Indoor Lacrosse Team, known as the Haudenosaunee Nationals, represents the Iroquois Confederacy in international box lacrosse competitions. They are currently ranked second in the world by World Lacrosse and have won Si ...

. These teams are recognized by

World Lacrosse World Lacrosse (WL), formerly the Federation of International Lacrosse, is the international governing body of lacrosse, responsible for the men's, women's, and indoor versions of the sport. It was established in 2008 by the merger of the prev ...

for international competition, making them the only

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

' national teams sanctioned in any sport. The men's teams are known as the Iroquois Nationals and the women's teams the Haudenosaunee Nationals. ''Iroquois'' is the name for the

Iroquois people The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years t ...

originated by European colonists and ''Haudenosaunee'' is their name in their own

Iroquoian languages The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian la ...

. FNLA also sanctions three men's

box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada in the 1930s, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's official ...

leagues:

Can-Am Senior B Lacrosse League The Can-Am Senior B Lacrosse League is a Senior-level Canadian and American box lacrosse league. The teams are located in the Southwestern Ontario and Upstate New York regions. Sanctioned by the First Nations Lacrosse Association, the champions of ...

Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League The Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League (TNSLL) is a Senior B box lacrosse league based out of Ontario, Quebec and New York, sanctioned by the First Nations Lacrosse Association (FNLA). The league champion earns a spot in the Presidents Cup, the ...

, and

First Nations Junior B Lacrosse League The First Nations Junior B Lacrosse League (formerly Iroquois Nations Junior B Lacrosse League) is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the First Nations Lacrosse Association. The league was formed in 2014 with the restructuring of the Canadian Lac ...

Iroqouis Nationals

The Iroquois Nationals men's lacrosse team was formed and sanctioned by the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee in 1983 in preparation of friendlies at the NCAA championship in Baltimore, Maryland. The Nationals lost to

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is ...

28-5 and Hobart College 22-14. Prior to the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, the Nationals held the Jim Thorpe Memorial Games and Pow-Wow, a 6-team event with local and international teams in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The Nationals achieved their first victory over the national team of England. The following year, using their Haudenosaunee passports, the Nationals traveled and toured England losing only once. After being denied membership by the ILF to compete in the 1986 World Games in Canada, the Iroquois hosted the teams for preliminary games at the

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

. In 1988, the IFL accepted the Iroquois as a full member nation. The Iroquois Nationals took part in their first international competition at the 1990 World Lacrosse Championships, finishing fifth. The first FIL sanctioned U17 box lacrosse friendly took place between the Iroquois Nationals and Team Canada during the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.

Nike deal

In 2006, the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Program signed a partnership with

Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...

in which Nike will provide the Nationals with their brand uniforms, clothing, footwear, and other equipment. The company is to develop programs to "promote wellness-and-fitness activities in Native American communities throughout the region", and team members may go to speak to local groups. Team members will also assist in testing of sustainable produced sportswear for Nike's research and development of processes to use non-toxic dyes and biodegradable organic

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

. Nike is the only Fortune 500 company to have such a relationship with a Native American organization, and the Iroquois Nationals are the only such group.

Passport issues

The Nationals were unable to attend and compete in the 2010 World Lacrosse Championship in England as the United Kingdom does not accept their

Iroquois passport The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee passport is a form of identification and an " expression of sovereignty" used by the nationals of the Six Nations (Iroquois: ''Haudenosaunee''). History The Haudenosaunee government has issued passports since at le ...

s. The Nationals were forced to forfeit their three preliminary games. In 2015, the Haudenosaunee Nationals women's under 19 team was forced to withdraw from the 2015 U19 World Lacrosse Championship in Scotland for the same reason.

Field lacrosse

The Iroquois Nationals are the national team representing the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. First recognized by the Federation of International Lacrosse as a full member nation in 1987, the Nationals competed in their first tournament at the 1990 World Lacrosse Championship, finishing fifth.

Results

Box lacrosse

2015 WILC

The Iroquois Nationals played host to the 2015 FIL World Indoor Lacrosse Championships for the first time in the tournament’s history. The event took place on Haudenosaunee Territories at Tsha’Hon’nonyen’dakhwa’ Onondaga Nation Arena and the Carrier Dome near Syracuse, as well as the

First Niagara Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League ...

in Buffalo September 18–27, 2015.

Leagues

, founded in 1969 as North American Lacrosse Association, was organized beginning in 1978. League winners compete for the

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

, the Senior B championship of North America. Can-Am teams have won the championship five times (1994, 1996, 2000, 2010, 2014). * Formed in 1994, the

is a Senior B

league. TNSLL teams compete for the

, winning the championship on five occasions (1994, 1995, 1997, 2011, 2012). *

is a

league formed in 2014 with the restructuring of the

Canadian Lacrosse Association Lacrosse Canada (french: Crosse Canada), formerly the Canadian Lacrosse Association, founded in 1867, is the governing body of lacrosse in Canada. It conducts national junior and senior championship tournaments for men and women in both field and ...

. Four teams competed in the inaugural season. In 2015 the league merged with the Montreal Junior Lacrosse League to form a seven-team league. The FNLA league winner earns a spot in the

Founders Cup The Founders' Cup is the championship trophy of Canada's Junior "B" lacrosse leagues. The custodial duties of this trophy fall upon the Canadian Lacrosse Association. The national champions are determined through a round robin format with a play ...

, the national championship of Junior B lacrosse in Canada.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Iroquois Nationals

First Nations Junior B Lacrosse League

@FirstNationsLax
Twitter Lacrosse of the Iroquois Confederacy Lacrosse governing bodies of Canada Lacrosse governing bodies of the United States First Nations sportspeople