Lacrosse in Australia
Lacrosse in Australia is a minor sport, with a long and proud history dating back to 1876,[1] with a small but dedicated community of participants and volunteers.
In these cities there are organised weekend field lacrosse competitions for men and women at senior and junior levels, played over the winter months (April until September).
Some lacrosse is also played in Sydney, South East Queensland, Canberra, Ballarat and Bendigo, it is very much at the developmental level.
The Melbourne club continued to promote the sport and arranged matches between the "Reds" and "Blues" in Albert Park during 1877-78.
Nobel Prize winning Professor Bragg, a founding member of the North Adelaide club established University in 1889.
[5] Lacrosse soon spread around the fledgling province, and the game grew in popularity in the small city of Adelaide and through the country towns, with large crowds recorded at the race course fixtures.
C Atkins, the part owner of a sport store in Barrack Street, took the lead in establishing lacrosse in Perth.
At the meeting held at the United Service Hotel and called at the instigation of Atkins, the lacrosse pioneers Parsons & Wingrove helped form two clubs, Perth and Fremantle, in 1896.
The first report of lacrosse being played in the Eastern Goldfields was in May 1898 when teams called Kalgoorlie and Mines (whose home was the town of Boulder) met.
During 1899, a "Coastal" team visited the Goldfields where local devotee Arthur O'Connor was nurturing the sport – principally from Coolgardie.
This exhibition game became a regular feature of the Western Australian sporting calendar until 1914, when a downturn in the gold industry and the outbreak of World War I signalled the end of the Eastern Goldfields Lacrosse Association.
After the Great Depression of the early 1930s the Eastern Goldfields Lacrosse Association was re-established in 1935 and existed for another four years when World War II caused men to join up.
[6] The Brisbane Lacrosse Club was formed following a meeting at the YMCA on Monday 2 May 1887,[7] and following the formation of a club at Ipswich and the imminent formation of one at South Brisbane, The Queensland Lacrosse Union was formed following a meeting at Lennon's Hotel on Tuesday 14 February 1888.
Photographs dated 1907 are labelled with the club names of Ottawa, Mohican, Delaware, Buffalo, Iroquois, Toombul and Wallaroo.
Despite this early success, lacrosse in Queensland was reduced to a small group of enthusiasts in the post World War II era.
Other early lacrosse clubs included Burwood District, Balmain, Camden, Granville, Marrickville, Mohican, Mosman, Newtown, North Sydney, Petersham, Stanmore, St Stephen's Institute, University, Waverly and Wentworth.
[15][16][17] Lacrosse games were played on the Sydney Cricket ground in the 1930s;[18] a NSW state team existed during this same period.
A men's team competed successfully at the Paradise Lacrosse Tournament on the Gold Coast under the name "Basically Naked".
With the employment of a Development Officer by Lacrosse Australia, based in Sydney, it was hoped that the junior and senior games would take off.
[25] In 1916 the Northern Tasmania Lacrosse Association abandoned the premiership competition due to the enlistment of men for the war effort.
[27] In 1932 a Tasmanian team played Victoria as a curtain raiser to the North versus South Football game.
[29] Women's lacrosse in Australia can trace its history as far back as 1904, when Miss Gwynneth Morris, a physical education teacher at Merton Hall, Melbourne Church of England Girl's Grammar School, introduced the sport as part of the school's commitment to team sports.
The Senior National Championships have been held on a yearly basis since 1978 with South Australia reigning supreme from 1985 through until 1996 when Victoria defeated them for the first time in the final for 12 years; a monumental win for Victoria and an end to a 12-year awesome victory stretch by South Australia.
At present, the main centres for lacrosse are in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, with each city hosting multi-division club competitions in their respective metropolitan areas.
The first ever Interstate (then Intercolonial) match in Australia took place in Brisbane in 1887, with New South Wales defeating their hosts Queensland by 1 goal to nil.
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.
[42] Australia has an important presence in the international scene, consistently finishing in the top three of the men's world championships, though have never won the trophy.
