Home2028 Olympic GamesLOS ANGELES 2028: Final-day Biden Administration statement asks IOC to blow up NOC team rules for Haudenosaunee...

LOS ANGELES 2028: Final-day Biden Administration statement asks IOC to blow up NOC team rules for Haudenosaunee lacrosse team

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≡ LACROSSE SIXES ≡

On the last business day of the Biden Administration, a statement called for the International Olympic Committee to allow the cross-national – U.S. and Canada – Haudenosaunee Confederacy to be allowed to field teams in the Lacrosse competition of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, including:

● “The United States and Canada call on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a confederacy of Indigenous Nations in North America, to compete in lacrosse at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as their own team under their own flag.”

● “While participation in the Olympics is generally reserved for recognized countries, the Haudenosaunee are seeking a special exception from the IOC to field their own lacrosse team.”

● “While we respect the IOC’s independence, we encourage the IOC to take advantage of this historic opportunity. Permitting the Haudenosaunee to compete in lacrosse – the sport they invented – would advance the highest values of the Olympic Games and send a powerful message about respecting and valuing indigenous cultural heritage.”

There’s a lot to digest here, especially since lacrosse’s admission to the 2028 Olympic Games is as a one-time-only added sport, requested by the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee.

The White House request was welcomed by the Haudenosaunee, in a post on X that included:

“The Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse Organization would like to express our sincere gratitude to President Joseph R. Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for their steadfast support of our inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”

(While the White House statement says the request is made by the U.S. and Canada, the statement does not appear on the news and statements list of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.)

The Haudenosaunee – the Six Nations – live mostly in upstate New York and southern Ontario, and the Haudenosaunee lacrosse team program was created in 1983. The name was changed to the Haudenosaunee Nationals in 2022.

Lacrosse was originated by the tribes, perhaps in the 17th Century, and a Haudenosaunee team was admitted to the men’s World Championship in 1990, winning bronze medals in 2014-18-23.

The women’s team debuted at the Worlds in 2009, with a best finish of seventh in 2013.

However, in 2021, World Lacrosse, taking a page from rugby, which pushed the more compact Rugby Sevens as a better format to get the game into the Olympic program, created Lacrosse Sixes. The core differences:

● Men’s field lacrosse has 10 players per team, played on a 100 x 55 m field, with four 14-minute quarters and a 15-minute halftime.

● Women’s lacrosse has 10 players per team in international play, on a 82-92 m long by 55-64 m wide field, with four 15-minute quarters, 10-minute halftime and two-minute breaks between quarters.

● Sixes has six players per team, is played on a 70 x 36 m field with four quarters of eight minutes each, a 15-minute halftime and a 30-second shot clock. It was created in 2021 and the first World Championship is slated for 2026.

They succeeded with LA28, which added Sixes to the program, along with baseball and softball, cricket, flag football and squash.

The problem with the Haudenosaunee is that it is a trans-national team, neither American or Canadian. World Lacrosse has accommodated this in view of the team’s historical importance. But the Olympic Games is something else.

Since the formation of the modern Olympic Movement in 1894, participation in the Games has been by national teams, fielded by National Olympic Committees. There have been exceptions, as in the 1896, 1900 and 1904 Games there were entries allowed from outside the NOCs. Some won medals:

Fencing: 1904 (1), in men’s Team Foil.

Polo: 1900 (1).

Tennis: In men’s Mixed Doubles, mixed-nationality teams won medals in 1896 (2) and 1900 (4).

Tug of War: 1900 (1).

This happened one other time, at the Chamonix 1924 Winter Games, where the Alpinism gold went to the 1922 British Mt. Everest expedition team, with members from Britain, India and Nepal.

That was 100 years ago. For 2028, the question will be about whether the IOC is willing to open the door for what will be a raft of future requests for similar treatment, starting with tennis, but also other sports which have doubles or team events that could benefit from all-star tie-ups of athletes of varying nationalities.

Inevitably, the question will be left up to (1) the LA28 organizers, who must come up with a solution on how the Haudenosaunee will be accommodated and managed, since no NOC will have jurisdiction over them, and (2) whoever is the new International Olympic Committee President, to be elected in March.

But for now, the Haudenosaunee in the 2028 Games is an idea, not a matter of qualification.

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