World Lacrosse member nations have voted overwhelming to implement a shot clock in field lacrosse following a three-week voting period.
The measure, put forward by the World Lacrosse Board, required a two thirds super majority to be passed and, with 71.11% in favour, it did so successfully.
45 out of 47 World Lacrosse member nations cast their votes with 32 voting in favour of the measure to implement a shot clock into the field lacrosse game.
World Lacrosse noted that the result of the vote was consistent with the results of recent polling of a wider audience they had conducted through their social channels.
Following the vote, the World Lacrosse Rules Committee will begin drafting the exact rule changes for men and women for implementation beginning 1 January 2026 for men and 1 January 2027 for women, though the shot clock rules and procedures will appear in the forthcoming rule books for men’s and women’s field lacrosse.
World Lacrosse also recognised that some concerns were raised about the implementation of a shot clock and they will work to provide financial and other resources to help in the transition over the coming years.
World Lacrosse has produced an FAQs list about the implementation of a shot clock in the field lacrosse game which can be read HERE.
England Lacrosse Statement
Over the past few years, the rules of various formats of lacrosse have been subject to change with some formats, like the women’s field game, undertaking significant changes in rules.
World Lacrosse has made it clear that its focus for its Rules Committee is on the rules for international competitions such as the World Championships, with the overall aim to make the sport more commercially attractive. An example of this is the above rule change to adopt a shot clock in both disciplines of field lacrosse.
In response to this, England Lacrosse has recently announced a domestic Rules Committee made up of representatives from the game tasked with analysing and assessing the rules once published by World Lacrosse.
Each committee member will review the domestic rules annually based on feedback from within the area of the game they represent. This will also include reviewing new rules to see if they are appropriate for usage within the domestic game.
Once World Lacrosse has confirmed the rule wording, the domestic Rules Committee will start its review. If approved by the England Lacrosse Rules Committee, no changes regarding the implementation of a shot clock would come into play until the start of the 2026/2027 season for men and 2027/2028 season for women at the earliest.