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Lacrosse is a team sport in which opposing teams use a netted stick, officially known as a ''crosse'', to direct the game ball towards the opponent's goal. Lacrosse is an adaptation of a tribal game originally played by Native Americans in what is now the United States and Canada . There are a number of versions of lacrosse played in Australia :
HISTORY OF LACROSSE IN AUSTRALIA Victoria The pioneer of lacrosse in Victoria (and Australia as a whole) was a Canadian, Lambton L Mount. He came to the Victorian Goldfields as a fourteen year old with his family in 1853 but it was not until 1875 that he was moved to revive his early boyhood memories of lacrosse. After watching the Football final between Carlton and Melbourne in that year it occurred to him that lacrosse was a superior game. In April of 1876 Mount wrote to the Australasian Newspaper to announce that he was arranging to import forty lacrosse sticks from Canada and intended to start lacrosse and establish the Melbourne Lacrosse Club. He succeeded and the first practice match of this club took place on 22nd June 1876 between 15-20 players at Albert Park . The Melbourne club continued to promote the sport and arranged matches between the "Reds" and "Blues" in Albert Park during 1877-78. By 1879, four clubs had been formed with some 120 players. These four clubs Melbourne, Fitzroy, South Melbourne and Carlton formed the Victorian Lacrosse Association in July 1879 for the purpose of coordinating matches. His Excellency, the Governor Of Victoria The Most Hon G A C Phipps , was the inaugural Patron. South Australia Lacrosse began in South Australia in 1885. Practice was held by the Adelaide Lacrosse Club in the South Parklands . By 1887 North Adelaide (who still exist today), Noarlunga and Knightsbridge (located in what is now Leabrook) had joined Adelaide to play regular games in the city, and the South Australian Lacrosse Association (now Lacrosse SA) was formed in 1888. 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. Teams were formed at Port Augusta , Port Germein , Jamestown and Riverton . Nobel Prize winning Professor Bragg , a founding member of the North Adelaide club established University in 1889. Western Australia The introduction of lacrosse into Western Australia was the direct consequence of gold discoveries in the Eastern Goldfields . The earliest records of playing lacrosse in the goldfields suggest that the game was first played in 189?. It was not until 1895, when two players from the eastern states, F Parsons and F Wingrove, arrived in Perth that formal lacrosse began in the coastal plains. These two lacrosse pioneers helped form two Perth clubs - Perth and Fremantle in 1896. Two further clubs Mercantile (based on a merchandising warehouse) and Cottesloe (later Banks) were formed in 1897. A formal competition commenced in 1898 with Mercantile winning the first premiership in that year. 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 till 1914, when a downturn in the gold industry and the outbreak of World War I signalled the end of the Goldfields team. Later attempts to revive the game in Kalgoorlie in the 1930s and in the 1980s both failed. Women's Lacrosse The first Women's Lacrosse game was played in 1890 at the St Leonard's School in Scotland. By 1926 the first women's lacrosse team in the United States was formed. In 1962, under the guidance of Mrs Joy Parker, the Australian Women's Lacrosse Council (AWLC) was formed. Mrs Parker became the inaugural President following the first interstate match between Victoria and South Australia with Mrs Titter Secretary and Mrs L Rolley Treasurer. In 1965, the Men's Lacrosse carnival was held in Perth, Western Australia and the AWLC were invited to play their annual interstate match between Victoria and South Australia during this carnival. The Western Australians were persuaded to form an Association and at the same time to join the AWLC. (Coincidentally they also entered into what became the first Women's Lacrosse Championship). In 1975, the Tasmanian Women's Lacrosse Association was formed in Hobart . In 1978, Tasmania became a full member of the AWLC and entered their first official team in the Championships in Perth in 1978. 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. In 1970, the first Under 16 National Championship was held and in 1982, the first U19 interstate match was played between South Australia and Victoria at the Senior Nationals in Adelaide . DEVELOPMENT OF LACROSSE Visiting Canadians Interstate Competition World War II Visiting Americans Tour to USA LACROSSE IN AUSTRALIA TODAY SEE ALSO
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