Lacrosse: Top things to know

Lacrosse is one of the five additional sports proposed by the LA28 Organising Committee for inclusion at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028, pending approval from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at their session in Mumbai (October 2023).

The final event programme and number of athlete quotas in the additional sports will be finalised in the future.

Men’s lacrosse was part of the St. Louis 1904 and London 1908 Olympic Games and made appearances as a demonstration sport at the Amsterdam 1928, Los Angeles 1932 and London 1948 Games.

The proposed format for lacrosse at Los Angeles 2028 is Lacrosse Sixes.

Only three nations have ever contested Olympic lacrosse with Canada winning gold on both occasions.

Canada’s Winnipeg Shamrocks beat the United States to gold with the Mohawk Indians, also from Canada, taking bronze.

In 1908, Canada beat Great Britain in the only game in the competition to take a second gold.

Women’s lacrosse featured at the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw using the traditional 10-a-side format. But at the 2022 Games in Birmingham, Alabama, both men’s and women’s competitions were held employing the new six-a-side version proposed for the Los Angeles Games.

What is Lacrosse and how is it being played?

Lacrosse consists of teams of players trying to shoot a rubber ball into the opposition goal using a stick with a net on its end. That net is used to carry, pass, catch and shoot with only goalkeepers allowed to touch the ball with their hands.

Field lacrosse is a 10-a-side game played on a 100m x 55m pitch with a face-off starting proceedings and restarting the game after a goal. Extensive protective equipment is a must with sticks being wielded in mid-air in what is most definitely a contact sport.

But the version which has attracted most popularity recently, and the one being proposed by LA28, is World Lacrosse Sixes which is played on a 70m x 36m pitch featuring goals 10m in from the end-lines.

Six players, including a goalkeeper, are drawn from a roster of 12 with games taking place over four eight-minute quarters.

While there were time restrictions and attacking and defending zones in field lacrosse, Sixes features a shot clock of 30 seconds in which a team must make an attempt at goal or cede possession. A turnover also occurs if a team returns to its own half having moved into the attacking half.

Minor fouls result in a player being sent to the penalty box for 30 seconds with major fouls triggering a one-minute suspension.

At the end of the match, the team with most goals wins. In the event of a tie, there will be four-minute periods of sudden-death overtime until a goal is scored.

How long is a Lacrosse game?

In Sixes, there are 32 minutes of play across four eight-minute quarters with limited interruptions although teams can take up to two 30-second timeouts per half.

At the end of the first and third quarters, there are intervals lasting two minutes. Half-time lasts five minutes so World Lacrosse Sixes matches will generally finish within an hour unless overtime is required.

How many players are on a Lacrosse team?

In World Lacrosse Sixes, there are six players - including a goalkeeper - in each team drawn from a roster of 12.

Where did Lacrosse originate?

Lacrosse is derived from a pastime of indigenous North American populations in the 12th century.

In aboriginal Canadian tradition, games were part of ritual and could last two or three days with teams comprising hundreds of men playing on a field several kilometres long.

Jesuit missionaries documented the sport of lacrosse in the 17th century in what is now Canada.

The Mohawk people were reported playing a game with a wooden ball and a stick with a hoop net in 1757.

Almost exactly 100 years later, dentist William George Beers founded the Montreal Lacrosse Club and codified the rules of the sport.