Lacrosse in Australia
Lacrosse is a minority sport in Australia. It has a long and
proud history dating back to 1876, 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.
Lacrosse in Australia is now governed by a single governing
body, the Australian Lacrosse Association (ALA), following the
merger of Lacrosse Australia and Women's Lacrosse Australia, who
had until 2008 governed the men's and women's versions of the games
independently. The move to a unified national body was precipitated
by the withholding of funds by the Australian federal
government.
Lacrosse in Australia Today
Local competitions
At present, the main centres for lacrosse are in Melbourne
(Victoria), Adelaide (South Australia) and Perth (Western
Australia), with each city hosting multi-division club competitions
in their respective metropolitan areas. Each of these cities have
State League competitions for both men and women, which attract
overseas players (the majority from the United States) who are
hosted by local clubs to help strengthen their teams as well as
develop junior lacrosse programs. The majority of teams, both
senior and junior, in lacrosse competition throughout Australia are
club teams, with a small few school and university teams that
participate in club competition.
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.
The first game between South Australia and Victoria occurred in
1887. In 1888 Victoria defeated South Australia 5 - 1 at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground. In 1910 the first Australian interstate
lacrosse carnival was held at the MCG.
At the senior, under 19 and under 17 age level, each state sends
its select representative team. At 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 men, senior
women, under 21 women, under 19 men, 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. After four years, however, a lack of
support from South Australia and Victoria due to the increasing
cost of participating the ALL-style competition saw the national
championship revert to the traditional carnival format in 2008.
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 has led to the club
national championships returning in 2009 with an expanded format,
involving the premiers of the three major lacrosse playing states,
plus a wildcard entry from one of those states to create a final
four format. The 2010 Championships were held on 12 June 2010,
where the Brighton Lacrosse Club (SA) won both the men's and
women's championships.
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.
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 four world championships including most
recently in 2010 (behind the United States and Canada). 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 have 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.
This information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacrosse_in_Australia