The game was called baggataway and tewaarathon, which was played by two teams with 100 to 1,000 men each on a field that stretched from about 500 m (1,600 ft) to 3 km (1.9 mi) long.

[2][3][4] In 1763, a lacrosse tournament between two First Nation tribes was utilized as a strategy to stage an ambush on the British Fort Michilimackinac during the Pontiac Rebellion.

It was part of a pre concentrated stratagem to inspire the surprise and destruction of the garrison…The shrill cries of the ball-players were changed to the ferocious war-whoop."

Canadian nationalists like George Beers began advocating for lacrosse to become the national sport instead of cricket as was being pushed by British settlers.

To deal with the violence, middle class promoters spoke in Social Gospel terms about the ideal of "muscular Christianity."

[10] Escalating violence led to the collapse of the professional leagues in 1914, and the game's base of support shrank to Montreal, Victoria, Vancouver, New Westminster, and a few small-towns.

Its failure to establish a solid base derived from a thin organizational infrastructure; for example, it was not played by schools or churches.

It presently conducts national junior and senior championship tournaments for men and women in both field and box lacrosse.

The OLA is governed by a larger Board than the CLA, though also populated largely by members with a strong lacrosse background.

[15] On October 28, 1964, Roxburgh moved to introduce Bill C–132, with respect to declaring hockey as the national game of Canada.

[16] Canadian Lacrosse Association members responded to the motion by calling it insulting and "out of line", and vowed to fight it.